The Sea Calls Us Home
by Centeris2
Summary: A Kiliel story set in modern day Alaska. Whether on land or at the bottom of the ocean, the sea always calls us home.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_Or_

Whoever thought this was a good idea is terribly foolish

Normally when Kili lost a bet it meant he had to do something ridiculous like eat a raw fish head or work on deck in a tutu and tiara. Normally when his friends talked him into doing something incredibly stupid it involved lots of alcohol and possibly weapons. One time it involved trying to race to the top of the fishing boat while eating a raw fish head with only the left side of their bodies. No one won that competition, or that time they decided they were going to decorate Christmas trees in the middle of an empty parking lot near the docks and then tried to Molotov cocktail them. Turned out it was really hard to light trees on fire when it was the middle of an Alaskan blizzard.

Granted these were all very dumb and dangerous things none of them came close to actually _dying. _Well, working in the fishing and crabbing industries could be quite dangerous and had killed people before, but he had never been trapped to drown under hundreds of feet of water. This was the situation he now found himself in with some of his friends and an adventurous team of scientists who wanted to explore the bottom of the ocean.

Kili had spent his life on the water, joining his uncle with his brother at a young age to learn the art of fishing in Alaskan waters. When his mother made him and Fili stay home from a trip out to sea he learned other practical skills on land; family friends in the neighboring Alaskan region were more than willing to teach metal and wood working to them and the mechanical things they learned made Fili and Kili both well equipped to handle engine troubles on the massive ships they worked on. While it was their ambition to one day have their own ships, for now the brothers were perfectly happy sailing with their uncle, Thorin. Decades at sea made him an expert fisherman, and while Fili and Kili were still young and inexperienced, he knew that one day his nephews would be worthy and capable of inheriting his prized crabbing vessel: _The Lonely Mountain_. Nicknamed "The King's Jewel" by other experienced captains, she held a long history of successful runs that made all the crewmembers quite rich at the end of every season.

But Fili would carry on the Durinson family name without him Kili thought to himself as he leaned his head against the metal wall of the submarine his was in. He heard large creatures moving around the ship he was trapped in, odd clicks and calls that didn't sound like anything he knew.

He was here because of two of his friends, Bran and Collin, who had met a couple of marine biologists at a bar and after a few drinks had agreed to join them. Or maybe they were marine geologists. Geographers? Something damned that involved going to the bottom of the ocean looking for things they shouldn't be looking for. Something about a shipwreck or something that would make them all rich and famous that sounded appealing at one point, but no longer.

Kili looked out the small window and saw nothing in the darkness of the ocean depths except for odd glowing lights. The lights flashed and moved in the water, pale bioluminescent light that was attached to whatever sea monster was trying to kill them. They had lost propulsion and power over 20 minutes ago and had been sinking ever since. Whatever was out there continued to hit the sub and sometimes there were terrible grating sounds like something running claws over the outside of their tiny pocket of air and warmth.

"You owe me a grand." Kili didn't look at Collin, watching the lights that were probably his doom out in the water. Bran snorted and Kili heard a punch behind him.

"I bet that we would find something, and we found _something!_" Bran protested, not interested in losing a thousand dollars.

"Something found _us,_" Kili said softly before he turned ever so slightly to look at his friends in the emergency lighting.

"I think we all lost," he said after meeting their gazes in the red glow. With that solemn statement he looked back out the window. At first they had fought, tried to get free of what they thought was a pod of whales that appeared from nowhere. But then the slamming started; whales don't start ramming into submarines for fun. Sharks don't either, but whatever was out there had slammed into them until they began spinning and damaged their engines. It was a miracle that whatever it was hadn't punctured the hull and drowned them all immediately, but it was pulling them down deeper where the pressure would surely kill them. He had already tried to fix the power and the engines but the damage was outside; there was nothing he could do from inside this sinking tin can.

The lights outside were multiple creatures, he could tell that much from how they moved independently of each other. Whatever they were, they were long and slender with dots of light going down their bodies. Or maybe it was lighted tentacles of some hell spawn squid. Kili put his hand up to the glass, looking at his death, and gave a sigh.

And then he yelped in surprise when he saw a face on the other side of the glass.

"The fuck?" Collin asked, looking.

"Didn't you see? It was a face, there was a person out there!" Kili exclaimed as he pushed his face up to the window to see better. But the face was gone.

"Oh great, sirens are going to kill us? Should I plug my ears?" Bran scoffed, his normal humor somehow intact. Maybe he was just imagining things, but he thought he had seen the face move to the right…

"Where are you going?" Collin called to Kili as he moved down to the next porthole.

"The sea witch cast her spell, and he's in love with her!" Bran declared. Kili said nothing, staring out the next window into the swirling lights and darkness.

"Actually, Bran, I… have something to tell you…" Collin said sheepishly. Kili gave them a glance, wondering what had come up, but Collin nodded toward an empty room and Bran followed him while asking what was up.

When Kili looked back out the window there was a hand on it. This time he didn't shout, instead staring in curious wonder at the five-digit hand. It was webbed and looked like it was covered in hard scales and it had long spikes for fingernails. But it still looked like a human hand. That couldn't possibly be right.

Kili reached out and touched the glass, his hand matching the one on the outside, and was startled when the face reappeared.

It looked human, the red from the light within the submarine casted it in a hellish glow, a woman's face with thick hair swirling around her. There were lights on her face, little dots of light that lined her bone structure.

It tilted its head to the side, looking at him, its large eyes staring right at him as though he were a bug in a jar to gawk at. Although perhaps, to it, that's exactly what he was. But he was doing his share of staring right back, mesmerized by the face on the other side of the glass. Something startled her and made her swim away, and whatever that something was hit the side of the submarine with enough force to spin it again, causing Kili to slam back into the wall behind him.

He passed out on the floor, spinning with the submarine as it flipped in the water.

* * *

Coughing. Coughing and gasping for breath and terrible pain in his head and salt in his mouth and he was alive.

Holy shit.

He was alive.

Kili's eyes shot open as he rolled over, coughing and feeling dizzy and trying to see in the darkness. What was below him was water and rock, smooth stone with a few inches of water rippled over it. In the water appeared to be bits of light, and as his eyes adjusted he looked around the cave he was in. It was covered in some sort of bioluminescent algae. There appeared to be no way out, the lights formed a uniform dome around him, but he felt too sick to stand up and try to figure out how much space there was. His eyes continued to adjust to the point where he could see his hands, albeit not very well, but when he tried to get up it resulted in making the headache even worse.

He didn't know how long he was in the strange cave alone, but after what felt like hours he managed to sit up so he was no longer lying down in the cold water. He sat in the water, shivering and numb. Why was he alive? How had he gotten here? Were the others still alive? The pounding in his head was something for him to focus on so he wouldn't worry about how numb he was; it was something to keep awake and alive. He was in pain but as long as his head still hurt then he was still alive. And still being alive meant being able to escape and survive. Somehow.

The water rippled and he felt something disturb the water to his left. He felt sluggish as he turned his head, knowing that he was well on his way to having a serious case of hypothermia. In the water were lights; it was one of the things that had been circling them. But now he was able to properly see it as it swam toward him.

The thing was long, maybe even ten or twelve feet long, with what he thought was a dark grey color to its scales. But the tendrils, or maybe it was hair, he could guess were a dark red color. The tail it had was vertical, indicating that it wasn't a mammal but a fish of some sort. A fish with human like arms and hands and face, right, because that made sense.

Clearly he was still really drunk and he was going to wake up and this would all be over soon.

He recognized the face was the one he had seen before, but it no longer looked like a face from hell as the light on it was no longer red. Its face was pale, practically white, and definitely looked like a woman's face. Except for the fact that it glowed with bioluminescent light. It looked up at him from just beneath the surface of the water, watching him inquisitively. It made the last swish of its tail and extended its arms, pulling itself out of the water and onto the barely submerged rock next to him. But it didn't touch him, instead getting extremely close to him, as though it wanted to be touching him but couldn't do it. It opened its mouth, revealing pointed teeth, and clicked at him. If Kili had to venture a guess it was trying to say something, but all he could do was shiver and rub his arms with his hands to try to keep warm. It crawled around him, circling him when he said nothing to it, and then became transfixed on the air coming out of his mouth in condensed puffs. It gently extended one of its hands to try to touch the breath as it came out of his mouth and pulled back its hand when it felt the heat but could not touch it. It tilted its head to the side again, looking at his face, and clicked again. When Kili remained silent it rolled off the rock and into the water, disappearing from sight.

What surprised Kili was when the same creature appeared again, this time with something in its arms. It offered a mass of… something to him, looking at him expectantly.

"Don't… understand." Kili managed to say through chattering teeth and a foggy mind. It seemed startled that Kili was able to make sound, perhaps it had thought that the shivering and his clattering teeth were his way of talking. But it seemed to get the idea as it dropped the load next to Kili, pulling itself up around him again.

"Hey-! What-?" Kili managed, trying to move away from the thing as it tried to put whatever it was on him. The creature just curled tighter around him so there was nowhere to go, and began to cover him in what felt like thickly woven seaweed. It was cold, clammy, slimy, and made him shiver even more.

"Stop … freezing…" Kili tried to say as he started to lose his vision and awareness. For a few moments he felt himself going completely numb and was only vaguely aware that something was rubbing his arms, legs, chest, back, and head.

When Kili opened his eyes again he was looking up at the face of the creature, he felt the now warmed seaweed blanket wrapped around him and the fish's body coiled tight around him like an eel. He didn't feel as cold anymore and he realized that the hands he had felt earlier weren't his friends trying to wake him up from being passed out, it was the thing trying to keep him warm. Why would it do that?

"Thanks." He managed, not sure if he should move or if he was now the thing's favorite toy. It tilted its head, perhaps pleased that he was now once more conscious, and uncurled from him and jumped back into the water.

"Wait!" but of course he was calling to ripples, the thing was already gone.

It only left him alone for a few minutes, however, before it returned with a fish in its mouth. Its arms held it propped up on the ledge of the rock, but it extended its neck and dropped the dead fish in front of Kili. It looked pointedly down at the fish and then back up to him.

"I can't eat that," in response the thing picked up the fish and took a bite of it before offering it back to Kili, this time holding it in its hand. Kili shook his head.

"I can't eat that," he said again, slower, as though that would make it understand. It dropped the fish and grabbed for the blanket it had given him, making Kili jerk back in fear.

"No! I need this!" Kili shouted, but the things claws already had its nails in the seaweed and it tore a small section free. It then took a bite of the seaweed before it offered it to Kili, apparently unfazed by Kili's alarm and violent jerking. Kili sighed, realizing this thing was going to keep bringing him things to eat until he did so. Bracing himself he took the strip of seaweed from its offered hand and took a bite. While it was slimy and salty it was also warm, and even though he wanted to gag he was also freezing and hungry. It seemed satisfied that he was eating based on its long tail flexing out of the water.

"Thank you," Kili said after he had choked down the seaweed. It blinked at him, staring at his lips as he said it. Then it extended a hand, touching his lips and throat, its hands getting tangled in his beard.

"Uhh…" Kili glanced around but it looked up at his eyes and then back at his lips as if waiting for something.

"What do you want?" Kili asked. It splashed its tail and got up out of the water, curling around him and facing him all the while looking at his lips.

"Can you stop?" when Kili tried to back away its hand followed and Kili watched when it raised its other hand to its own mouth and throat. It clicked again.

"Can you speak?" he asked it. Its tail flicked, slapping the water.

"Kkkhee," it said, or tried to say.

"You can speak?"

"Seeeehhkkee? Keeeh?" at its second attempt it got angry, jumping back into the water. It swam around the rock he was on a few times, making more sounds that he could not understand through the water. It finally stopped in front of him, keeping its neck in the water but its face out and looking at him. He noticed its hand was still on its throat.

"Do you have a name?" Kili asked, not expecting it to be able to say anything.

"Aaaaym?"

"A name. Nnn. Name," he said slower, leaning down and emphasizing how he was pronouncing the word. It started at his mouth, watching the way his tongue moved.

"Naaame."

"Yes! Name. My name is Kili. Kili," he said his name the second time slowly, pointing to himself.

"Keeeleee?" it questioned, trying to understand him. He nodded and smiled before he pointed at himself again.

"Yes. Kili."

"Kili," it said, pointing at him. At that Kili pointed at the creature and wondered if it would understand.

"Tarrr-" it began before it stopped and slapped the water with its tail.

"Taarrrel," it hissed and splashed, trying to say its name to him so that he could understand. After several more attempts and laps around him clicking to itself it finally managed to say:

"Tauriel."

"Tauriel?" Kili said slowly. It splashed the water, rose up out of it, and pointed to itself. It seemed pleased that it had been able to convey its name. Then it sank back into the water to the level it knew it could communicate with him. It seemed to be dissatisfied trying to speak with its gills out of the water but he couldn't understand it when it was completely underwater. But it smiled up at him, or at least tried to. It looked like it was baring his teeth at him. The attempt made him laugh and smile again. It tilted its head at the sound and tried to smile again. The second attempt at smiling was much better.

"So mermaids are real?" Kili asked. It tilted its head and its smile faded as it grew confused. But Kili didn't expect it to answer him anyway.

"Never thought you were real, and now I get to meet one before I die," he looked up at the ceiling of the cave, dotted with light.

"Reminds me of stars," he began to ramble, and Tauriel pulled itself up next to him and looked at the ceiling.

"It will be summer soon, you wouldn't be able to see the stars for a while because of the midnight sun. Mom always liked that Fili and I wouldn't be able to sneak out of the house in the dark of night since there was no night," at that thought he reached into a pocket and pulled out the stone his mother had given him as promise he had made to return home. Tauriel looked with interest at the rock but didn't touch it.

"My mother gave me this, she thought it would protect me, bring me home when I went out to sea. Looks like I won't be going home…"

"Home?" Tauriel said the word slowly.

"Where I live, on the surface," he pointed up but didn't know how to explain it to the mermaid.

"Tauriel," he said, sticking his hand into the water and motioning toward it.

"Tauriel's home," he said for emphasis before he lifted his hand out of the water and pointed up.

"Kili's home," it followed his hand motions and seemed to understand.

"My home is up there, on land, on the surface. But I can't go home. It's impossible," he said, his gaze upward.

"Wait- STOP! NO-" Kili screamed as he was suddenly drug under by Tauriel. The water was freezing and knocked the air right out of him. Its arm was strong around his chest but he thrashed and kicked it away. He broke through the surface and scrambled up on the rock, freezing cold once again.

"Kili! Home!" Tauriel called to him, pointing down into the water and then motioning upwards. Apparently it had tried to take him out of the hole it was using to enter this cave. Kili shook his head as the intense shivering returned.

"I can't go that way! I'll drown! I'll die!" he shouted back to it as he coughed up water he had inhaled. Tauriel seemed upset by his distress and quickly pulled itself next to him and covered him in the seaweed once more. Kili did not lose conscious as Tauriel made quick work rubbing heat back into him and the seaweed blanket. That did not keep his breath from becoming labored as the headache got worse and he did not fight when Tauriel curled its body around him. This time he was able to feel its heart beating through its green gray chest, and he realized he could feel something under the mat of red hair. Was Tauriel a female? Why would a fish have breasts? But then Tauriel was humming, emitting a low pulse and a repeating series of clicks. Was that a siren song? Whatever it was, the sound accompanied by the warmth Tauriel had rubbed into him was making him drowsy. As much as he tried he couldn't help but fall asleep in the mermaid's arms, lulled to sleep by the humming in its chest.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_Or_

That Time Kili Was Pretty Sure He Didn't Hallucinate A Mermaid

"Kili!" he blinked, his eyes were crusted with salt and grit, and tried to sit up. It was still dark, wet, and cold, but something had called his name. The sound was familiar.

"You're alive!" a bright light shone on him, momentarily blinding him and making him squint. Something splashed in the water toward him and grabbed him.

"Collin?" Kili's muddled mind finally processed the voice he was hearing, and he didn't fight as his friend hauled him up and into something.

"Holy shit we found him!" Wherever they were it was warm and bright and Kili couldn't see anything. He guessed this was the small, deep sea-exploring vessel that had come with the submarine. _The Hobbit_ or something like that. He didn't realize it had gotten away in the attack; they had lost contact with it when they lost power. The voices around him stopped making sense as they mixed together and Kili fell into a daze once more.

"Heyyy wakey wakey, look who finally woke up." Kili rolled over and rubbed his eyes. That sounded like Collin again.

"Where are we?" Kili asked as he sat up and looked at his friend.

"Back on the sub and heading toward the surface," at that Kili stared at the red head, not believing what his friend had said.

"How is that possible? We were hundreds… thousands of feet below the surface!" he didn't know how he was still alive in the cave, but the pressure in the water should have crushed the submarine and them if they tried to return to it.

"That guy, Baggins, he figured out how to slip past those monsters! That mini sub that the scientists had with them was able to get away and stun them with light. He rescued us!"

"But the submarine wasn't working…" a lot of things didn't make sense but Kili didn't think he was ever going to find out what really happened.

"When we got back to the sub the propellers were fine, whatever had gotten tangled in them had been removed," Collin tried to explain as Kili stood up.

"Where is Bran?" At that question Collin glanced away and looked embarrassed.

"He's with the others," the panic that had seized his heart subsided though Kili didn't understand why Collin looked so ashamed.

"Durinson! Tellez! We'll be reaching the harbor soon!" one of the scientists called from down the hall.

Getting back on shore was akin to a religious experience, but when a person thought they were going to drown and die on the bottom of the ocean it's a surreal and overwhelmingly happy experience to step back onto the dock they have walked since they were a small child. Collin and Bran both left as soon as they got onshore which confused Kili because he would have guessed that they would stick around and they'd all go get drinks after their near death experience. Once safe on land he could hear the team of scientists eagerly talking about their data and all their new discoveries. He assumed that they meant the sea creatures that had taken them but who would believe that they were attacked by deep-sea mermaids? Or plain mermaids for that matter.

Either way he had texted his brother and sat at their favorite local bar. He was in the middle of scarfing down a sandwich when a hand clapped down on his shoulder.

"Can't get enough subs?" Fili joked and sat down next to him. Kili put down the sandwich to take a drink of beer.

"Talk on the dock is that the sub got pretty beat up. Something about a sea monster or something dumb. The usual, Dolly, thank you," Fili said to the woman who owned the bar. She gave her regulars a wave but didn't try to strike up conversation with them.

"So?" Fili asked, looking at Kili who had remained silent. Kili gave him a long look before returning to his food.

"Oh shit, did you find something down there?"

"They found us. Dragged the sub down and then-" he couldn't tell his brother that he had met a mermaid and somehow ended up in a cave. It must have been in his head. Somehow.

"They? Then? What?" Fili prodded, trying to get more out of him.

"I thought I was going to die trapped in that fucking thing. It's crazy."

"How is that crazy?" Fili nodded to Dolly and took his beer, not looking at Kili as he asked the question.

"I met a mermaid." That made Fili stop and look at Kili. Kili was looking straight at him. He could tell his brother wasn't lying.

"You met a mermaid," Fili said slowly.

"I met a mermaid," Kili said again, taking another bite of his sandwich.

"That's crazy," Fili took a long drink before he made that comment. There was no way his brother had met a mermaid. Mermaids weren't real.

"Told you," Kili scoffed after finishing his food. Fili was silent and took another long drink.

"Well," Fili slapped Kili on the back, "I'm glad you didn't drown."

"Heh, yeah. Same," Kili muttered. Fili lifted his beer mug and Kili did the same.

"Here's to not dying!" Fili declared.

"And to never going in a sub again," Kili added when they hit mugs and drank the contents of the containers.

"Didn't Bran and Collin go with? Where are they?" Fili asked after putting his mug down.

"Yeah, but they both left as soon as we got to shore. They were acting weird when we were coming back to the surface…" Kili muttered and wondered what had happened to his two best friends. They should have joined him for a drink but he couldn't get a hold of them.

"Well, nearly dying makes a person think. Maybe they just need to think on their own?" Fili suggested. Kili shrugged and thanked Dolly for giving them refills. He wondered what they had talked about when he had been looking out the window and seen Tauriel for the first time. He'd have to ask later.

* * *

Kili felt it was appropriate to go home to see his mother after everything that had happened. When he got home he just hugged his mother for a few long minutes, much to her surprise. He could only be home for a few days because it would soon be time to fish in the bays and out in the ocean with his brother and uncle but his mother was glad to have him home. She told him that the talisman she had made for him had brought him back, and that she had faith that it would bring him home again. But he should still be careful and not do dangerous things for no good reason. And maybe he should settle down and start looking for a nice girl, Julee Kemp was a nice young woman who had moved into the area and was single and very pretty. He promised his mother that he would be careful, but couldn't make any promises about finding a nice girl to settle down with.

What he hadn't expected was that the expedition he had been on would hit the news.

But when there are multiple pictures of what appears to be mermaids attacking a submarine that gets some attention. Of course people were putting the images through all kinds of tests to prove their authenticity but Kili didn't pay much mind to it. He had done his job on the sub and gotten back to shore, he had no further reason to involve himself in what the scientists were up to.

But he was curious about seeing Tauriel again. If only the thought of going underwater didn't cause his chest to tighten in fear. But he wanted to know if Tauriel was real or if he had imagined it.

A week after his return to shore he was once more on the docks, heading toward the bar to kill some time before his uncle would arrive to the town so they could go out fishing together.

"-saw something out in the waves! I'm tellin' ya!" Kili overheard one of the older fishers. He recognized the man, he was a seasoned fisher in his 50s that worked on other boats that went by Hotrod because he spent all his spare time and cash on an old vintage mustang that over the years had acquired many accessories and paint decals.

"You saw a whale or shark, nothin' more," Hotrod's companion waved away the declarations. The one who had spoken was Greg Radake, another seasoned veteran of the Alaskan fishing grounds that had a scar on the left side of his forehead from what he claimed was a "beast of a swordfish." The common theory behind the scar outside of his claim was a bar fight. The third man at the table with them was Ed Ornberg, as blond and blue eyed and Scandinavian as he was 40 years ago when he started fishing on the Pacific.

"Rod's ain't the only one who saw something. Ever since those marine bio folks came back there's been something out there," Ornberg said as he swirled his whiskey. Radake looked at Ornberg like he was insane.

"Like what?" Radake demanded to know.

"Sally's crew saw something, they'd swear on the Holy Book that it was a person with red hair in the water," Hotrod said, mentioning Captain Solomon's crew.

"And what was it?" Ornberg said smartly, as though waiting for them to admit their foolishness.

"Dunno. It disappeared under the waves. I'll tell ya, no fish that big have red coloring like that."

"Was it long? Looked like an eel or thin shark? Maybe twelve feet?" Kili interrupted, too curious to stay out of the conversation. The three older men looked at him but Hotrod's face lit up.

"Yeah! Twelve or fifteen feet long! Like a sea snake fucked a shark and slapped a wig on the devil it popped out!" Hotrod exclaimed. He stood and grabbed Kili, bringing him down to the table with them.

"Ya've seen it?" They all asked, curious. Kili glanced around, suddenly very nervous.

"Lil' Durinson, you were with them in the sub," Radake said slowly when he remembered that tidbit of information.

"The ones saying there were sea monsters?" Ornberg asked. Kili nodded his head.

"There were…" Don't say mermaids. That's crazy.

"You know those angler fish? The ones with the lights?" Kili began, much to their confusion.

"That live down in the hell depths? Yeah…" Ornberg answered with a raised eyebrow.

"They had lights like that, except it was lights all over their bodies. They were like a cross between a barracuda and a human, long and skinny and wicked fast but about as big around as us." He left out the part where they looked like they were human from the hips up.

"They said they had human faces and hands," Ornberg pointed out.

"Well…" yes they did, "their faces were flat instead of pointed like a fish would be, and they had fins, or maybe hands, they looked like hands, claws trying to grab you." The three fishermen were silent for a moment, staring at him. Hotrod seemed to take this as proof that he was right, Ornberg seemed to be seriously considering it, but Radake didn't seem convinced.

"Where are people seeing this?" Kili asked before any of them could say anything. Hotrod looked down at the table, inspecting the nautical map that made up the tablecloth.

"I saw it round here, 'bout an hour or two after sunrise," he told Kili, who thanked him and quickly left. He didn't pay attention to the three old sailors break out into more talk and argument, he wanted to get out there and check out the area for himself.

With a text cancelling his afternoon with his uncle claiming that Collin and Bran had wanted to get a day of speed boating in before the seasons got serious, he got into the speed boat he shared with his uncle and brother down on the docks. He knew it was not a good idea to go out on the open ocean in a speedboat, and alone no less, but he had to know.

His phone was off and put away, the waves raced beneath the boat as he headed out into the open ocean on the cloudy day, and his heart was pounding. It didn't take long to get out to the area that Hotrod had shown him. He cut the engine's power, let the ship roll in the waves, and looked all around.

Well this was stupid.

He grabbed a pair of binoculars from the cabinet and spent many long minutes looking in all directions, scanning the waves near and far for any sign of something… mermaidish.

"Maybe I should have brought food," he muttered after an hour of being out on the water. This boat didn't have any bait in it and he wasn't sure it would attract the right type of fish. He decided he would stay out here until he was starving or until he saw something, and if he had to he would come back another day.

"Tauriel!" he shouted as loudly as he could. The water answered him and as the time ticked on and his shouts went unanswered he began to think this was a bad idea. His uncle and brother would no doubt be disappointed that he had ditched on such short notice, and he didn't even have a good alibi to tell them to explain what he had been doing.

"TAURIEL!" he gave one last call, his throat pained from the screaming and salty air. He sighed, sat down and mentally kicked himself for how stupid he had been thinking he'd be able to find a stupid hallucination. He took hold of the keys, put them into the ignition, and started the boat up to head back.

"Keelee?"

* * *

Author's Note: still trying to figure out FFN's spacing and new story system, sorry if the chapters look awkward. Please bear with me while I figure it out and update the chapters to look like they should.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_Or_

Holy Shit Mermaids Are Real

"Keelee?"

Kili rushed over to the side of the boat he heard the voice from and saw the fish person, its head and shoulders out of the water.

"Tauriel!" he said excitedly, and it clicked and smiled in response.

"Kili home?" Tauriel asked and looked around at the surface.

"Yes, I'm home," he said with a laugh. It looked different on the surface; its skin now looked softer, fleshier, and less scales. Its eyes were bright and he could no longer see the bioluminescent pigment in its skin. Tauriel slipped under the water, swimming around his boat as it clicked and splashed its tail in happiness. Now he could see the dorsal fins; there were three of them: one between the shoulders, a larger and thinner one below its hips, and then the third one down on the tail. They were a green grey color and he could imagine the reaction of anyone else who wouldn't understand the long, thin, green-grey fish beneath them with dark red covering the head. It looked like the thing had hair; it was even braided back to keep it out of its face and had strands of seaweed woven into it. After admiring the creature it stopped and rose out of the water until its chest was out of the water and exposed. Kili blushed and quickly looked away.

"Kili?" he heard Tauriel ask. Oh my god. He thought it had hard and thick chest scales before to protect vital organs, but without the deep-sea pressure… did Tauriel actually have boobs?

"Ahh… Tauriel? Are you a girl?" how was he going to explain it?

"Grrrlee?"

"… Never mind," although he was curious he had no idea how he would get Tauriel to understand. Maybe Tauriel had claspers like sharks, if Tauriel was a boy and if mermaids had shark like anatomy.

Tauriel cocked its head and grabbed the edge of the boat to pull itself up into it. Kili noticed the claw like nails on its webbed hands. Four fingers and a thumb, just like humans. Weird. The boat lurched to the side as Tauriel hoisted itself up and over and Kili stumbled backward from the shifting floor. But Tauriel managed to get onboard and flicked its tail to get all the way onto the ship.

And accidentally slapped Kili in the face with the spines in its tail fin.

Tauriel clicked in surprise when Kili shouted in pain and pulled itself closer to where Kili sat, clutching his face. Tauriel was hissing, or perhaps hissing wasn't the right word because it sounded like a concerned hiss, and grabbed his hand on his face.

"Ouch-!" he yelped again when Tauriel's claws scratched his skin. That made Tauriel withdraw, moving back and getting low to the deck of the ship. He looked at it through his fingers and couldn't help but look down Tauriel's body.

No claspers, or anything besides the pelvic fins. So he was going to assume that Tauriel was female until he learned otherwise.

Tauriel rolled, exposing her underside to him, and he took that to mean that she was sorry for hurting him.

"You didn't mean to, it's okay," he said, not that she would understand, and touched the spot where it hurt. He was bleeding, and may need stitches. How was he going to explain this?

Tauriel rolled over, did a full rotation and crawled back up to him although she was much slower in moving her hands. He moved his hand to the side so that she could touch the blood on his forehead; a shiver went down his spine when she licked the red liquid on her fingers. He also realized that she had a nose, which was strange for a fish to have. He hoped she wouldn't decide he tasted good, and he made no move when she brought her face closer to his. He closed his eyes and felt her lick his forehead. Her tongue felt rough, like a cat's. And then she moved away and began to fiddle with her hair.

"Kili," she said, holding up a stone she had retrieved from a seaweed bag woven into her hair. He looked at it, confused, but she motioned toward him and tried to give it to him. She pointed to his chest and then offered him the rock again.

"Oh!" he pulled out his mother's talisman. She clicked her tongue and held the rock up for him to take.

"You think I collect rocks," he said but accepted the rock she had brought for him. She seemed satisfied when he had put both of the rocks back in his pocket and rolled onto her back and looked at the sky.

"I bet you don't see this view often," Kili said as he moved down next to her. She clicked and he took that as a yes. It was a shame that it had been cloudy the past few weeks but the sun was supposed to come out today. From what he had heard though, they had used light to escape in the submarine, would Tauriel be able to handle sunlight? He looked at her; she looked so human until you got past her hips. She had hips. And a waist. And breasts. And hair and pointed ears poked through her hair and she had a nose and it didn't make sense but he was also spending time with a mermaid so was it supposed to make sense? Her scales looked like skin above her waist, flawless and pale and perfectly smooth. At her waist was where the color of her flesh turned into a green gray, getting darker as it went down the tail. Her fins were a dark green or maybe black at the base but faded into a lighter green gray at the tips. If he remembered correctly her fins had bioluminescent light to them that made them glow in the darkness.

"The clouds are breaking up, you'll be able to see the sun soon," Kili continued to say to her. He stopped looking at her and looked up at the sky. He could see patches of blue in between the clouds, and the sun was trying to break through the clouds. He was quiet as he watched the sky. For several long minutes the only sound was the waves rolling around them and Kili realized that he was happy doing just this.

"Oh, here's the sun-" Kili said as the clouds finally opened but Tauriel's screeching was much louder as she flailed and scrambled off the boat.

"Tauriel?!" Kili shouted, trying to not slam into the side of the boat as it rocked from the sudden shift in weight. Kili grabbed the side of the boat and looked over and under into the water and saw Tauriel coiled tight under the boat to stay out of the light. Part of him wanted to laugh but he was also worried that she was hurt. He could hear her clicking and hissing in the water, but he didn't want to jump into the water in case the boat drifted. Then again he and Tauriel could just be careful to stay near the boat. When he heard her slap her tail against the boat he stood up, stripped his clothes, and jumped into the water.

The water was cold but he knew he would be fine for at least an hour, but he still had a moment of shivering in the ocean until he remembered to start swimming. Tauriel had looked at him in confusion but was too scared to come out from under the boat. He swam over to her, resting his hand on the boat and looking at her. Her light brown eyes looked up at him with concern and she swam just far enough to stick her head out of the water.

"Tauriel home," she said, and he nodded.

"Yes, the water is your home." She pointed up at the boat.

"Kili home." Oh, she thought he needed to stay in the boat. Had she never seen land before?

"Oh I'm fine!" he assured her, and to prove his point he swam under the surface. He heard her do some sort of hiss shout and before he realized it he was being dragged up to the surface.

"Kili! Home!" she yelled and tried to push him onto the boat.

"Tau-HEY-!" he yelped, regretting his decision to go naked as she grabbed at his body trying to hoist him up. He grabbed her hands and held onto them, turning around to look at her.

"Tauriel-! It's fine. I can be in the water, I just need to breath!" he tried to explain, holding fast to her webbed hands and making her look at him.

"Kili… Tauriel home? Kili Tauriel home?" she asked slowly, trying to understand.

"Yes. Tauriel's home is down there," he let go of one of her hands to point down into the water, "Kili's home is up here," he pointed to the boat and the sky and in the direction of where land was.

"Kili Tauriel home," she said, moving her hand in a circle between them, apparently trying to indicate the surface of the water. He smiled and nodded.

"Yes. That's right. The surface is our home."

"Esss," she said slowly.

"Yes," he said, exaggerating his mouth so that she could understand how to properly form the word.

"Yesss," she said, her s's a bit exaggerated. He nodded. Then he kicked back, pulling her out into the sunlight more. She pulled away and swam under the boat once more, watching him as he took a deep breath and dove under the waves. This seemed to encourage her, and he smiled at her under the water as she swam around him. She was careful to say submerged in the water; it no doubt protected her from the sunlight.

They swam and played in the water around the boat, Kili would grab onto her main dorsal fin and she's lead him around, or he'd hug her hips and she'd roll and wriggle free of his grasp. She'd circle him and inspect every inch of him, fascinated by his different anatomy. Her fingers were like the sandpapery feel of a shark, but she was gentle as she touched his skin and hair, running her hands over his unwebbed fingers and feet. Her hair was much like his, only it felt like there was a layer of slime over them, and she was still as he gently ran his hands through her hair. It was so long, it flowed past her hips and billowed around her when she floated in one place. At one point she actually stuck her fingers in his mouth, marveling at his dull teeth compared to her razor sharp ones.

The thing that surprised him the most, though, was as she played with him and he held his head underwater he could hear her singing. The sounds she made weren't any words he could tell, they just sounded like long and sustained vowels. He remembered her humming and clicking when she had lulled him to sleep, but it sounded much better when they were under water. The sounds she made when singing reminded him of whale calls. And when he was above the water, it sounded like the song was coming from everywhere. He could understand where people got the idea of a siren song, although he wasn't about to drown himself from begin overwhelmed by it. The more he listened to her the more he could tell her clicks apart from her other sounds. He guessed that she was trying to talk to him, perhaps talking to him like he had to her knowing that they would not understand each other. She didn't just click and hiss, she huffed, purred, clucked her tongue, and even emitted a few squeaks and squeals. It was fascinating to listen to.

The day wore on and the cold water eventually forced Kili back onto the boat. Tauriel remained in the water, fearful of the sun, but watched him as he dried himself with a towel and put his clothes back on.

"Kili…home?" Tauriel asked, barely coming out of the water to speak. Kili nodded.

"Yes. Kili go home." She emitted a whine and sank into the water so that her nose was underwater and blew bubbles.

"I'll come back, don't worry," he tried to reassure her but she just sank below the surface and began to swim in a wide circle around the boat. He turned the key and started the engine, watching her fins and tail jerk away at the sound of the motor and disappear under the water. He hoped he'd be able to find her again, but he had no idea how he would do that.

There was a splashing beside the boat as he gave the engine more power and he laughed when he saw her pop out of the water before diving under the boat and onto the other side.

"Wanna race, Tauriel?" he shouted to her as he cranked up the engine, impressed that she easily kept up pace with the boat. When the splashing stopped he looked back to where she had disappeared and couldn't help but sigh. But then she leapt out of the water, her entire body leaving the ocean as she looked at him with a smile. When she dove back into the water she did not surface again, but Kili had a feeling she was following him under the waves.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_Or_

And Now: An Awkward Discussion About Fish Boobs

When Kili had docked the boat he had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Probably because his brother was sitting on the pier, waiting for him with his arms crossed.

"Where the hell have you been? Uncle Thorin ran into Bran and was pissed when Bran said he didn't know where you were. You said you were going-" Fili began his scolding but all Kili could do was grin as he reached into pocket.

"The mermaids are real," Kili said, cutting off his blond brother.

"He's gonna- what?" that threw Fili off. Kili pulled out the rock Tauriel had given him.

"Tauriel, she gave this to me. I think she thinks I collect rocks because of Mom's talisman."

"You've been out looking for mermaids. Thorin is going to kill you and you went looking for _mermaids._"

"I _found_ a mermaid! At least I'm pretty sure she was a she. I couldn't exactly ask her and I didn't see any… uhh…" Fili stared at his brother in helpless bewilderment.

"I didn't see any dicks," Kili finally said straight out.

"It's a fish."

"Well I didn't see any fish dick," Kili rolled his eyes.

"Why were you looking to see if it had a fish dick?"

"Well Tauriel has boobs-"

"Do you want to fuck a fish?"

"No! I didn't know if I should call Tauriel a he or she or it…"

"We're talking about a fish."

"Tauriel's not just a fish! Or maybe she is, it's complicated-"

"Oh my god I'm arguing with you about the gender of a fish."

"But she knows words! She's learned four words so far!"

"I'm not listening to this. Uncle will kill you and your last words will be about a _fish_ with _boobs_!"

"So I ditched a fishing day that I've been looking forward to so I could go out to the middle of the ocean to find a rock?" Fili took the rock that Kili was presenting to him. It was a sharp and grey and had scratches on it. It looked like something had tried to write on it with something pointed.

"Okay. So you found a mermaid that you are petty sure is a woman. What are you going to tell Thorin?" Fili asked as he handed the rock back to Kili.

"I don't know yet. He won't believe me if I tell him I spent the day swimming with a mermaid."

"Probably not."

"But… thanks."

"For what?"

"Believing me."

"You're my brother, I can tell when you are lying and I know you wouldn't lie to me," as crazy as it was Kili's eyes were too bright and his smile too large to be anything but sincere.

"Would you like to meet her? I don't think she would mind; she seems pretty curious about humans," Kili proposed much to Fili's shock.

"Uh, sure?" he hesitantly agreed and noticed the gash on his brother's forehead.

"What's with the cut?" Fili reached up and touched the injury. It felt like there was a sticky seal over it. Kili leaned back a bit and touched his forehead as well.

"Oh, Tauriel wanted to get into the boat and she accidentally hit me," Kili rubbed the cut, curious about what was on it. He hadn't even noticed the pain, the area felt numb. Maybe it had something to do with when Tauriel licked him?

"It's starting to bruise. Does it need stitches?" Fili asked with concern, informing Kili that the skin around the cut was turning a variety of colors.

"I hope not," Kili muttered. He didn't know how he would explain to a doctor how he had managed to get a deep cut on his forehead.

"You could always tell Thorin the real reason you cancelled was because you bashed your head open on something," Fili's suggestion got a chuckle out of Kili.

"I'll tell him it was from the same 'beast of a swordfish' that got Radake," he joked as Fili snickered. It wasn't a good alibi, but Thorin probably wouldn't ask questions. At the most Thorin would go tell the other veteran fishers about Kili's injury and they'd get a good laugh and all have a guess at what had really happened. Greg Radake might ask if it really was a swordfish like the one who gave him the scar on his forehead, but that was not something Kili was worried about.

"Uh…" the brothers glanced down at Kili's stomach that had decided to interrupt the conversation. Being in the cold water and out on the ocean for hours had made Kili quite hungry.

"C'mon, let's get some food before Thorin finds you," Fili put his arm around his younger brother's shoulder and led him to their favorite diner.

* * *

"A swordfish," Thorin raised an eyebrow but his voice remained at a level indicating annoyed disbelief.

"Yes sir," Kili said with a straight face. Fili had turned his head and was pretending to not be paying attention so that he wouldn't crack a smile. Thorin's arms crossed as his gaze turned hard.

"You expect me to believe you happened to get almost the exact same injury as Radake from the exact same swordfish," it wasn't even a question, but Kili answered anyway.

"No, but no one believes Radake either," Kili replied. Fili concealed a snicker with a cough before he looked innocently at his uncle.

"We could have used you today," Thorin changed the subject and Kili's gaze dropped.

"Sorry, uncle," he apologized. He did feel guilty about bailing on his uncle and brother when they were counting on him. He didn't regret seeing Tauriel, but he did regret causing his family trouble for it. The weathered captain held his harsh look for a few moments but decided Kili was being sincere.

"Don't do it again," that was the last Thorin said on the matter. "Don't be late tomorrow, we're setting out early." With that Thorin left Fili and Kili sitting at a table. Fili was silent and watched Kili until he raised his head again.

"He won't stay mad forever," Fili assured him and Kili gave him a halfhearted smile. Their uncle could be downright terrifying when he was angry, but Kili was more torn up over disappointing his uncle than upsetting him.

"What words does she know?" The question caught Kili off guard and he stared at his brother in bewilderment.

"You said Tarel knew words," Fili prompted his brother, trying to jog his memory.

"Oh. Tauriel. She knows her name, my name, 'home,' 'name,' and 'yes.' Although I'm not sure if she understands the words what the words mean. She may have figured out how to say 'yes' but she hasn't used it in speech yet," Kili began to explain. The conversation made him forget about his uncle as he remembered his time with Tauriel earlier in the day.

"Did you name her?"

"No, she told me her name. Somehow she knew how to say her name in a way I'd understand. It doesn't make sense," the last part was mumbled more to himself than to his brother.

"Or maybe Tauriel isn't her name at all. Maybe Tauriel is their word for their kind. So she thinks humans are called 'Kili.' " The suggestion made Kili chuckle and he took a drink as Fili asked another question.

"How do you talk to a person who only knows a few words?"

"She is so clever, Fili, it's amazing! She strings words together, like 'Tauriel home' means underwater I think. And 'Kili home' is land. And she's curious about a lot of things, like she spent a good five minutes looking at my teeth. I think she was confused about how I eat anything without sharp teeth. And she has hair Fili. Like real human hair! It is braided and red with seaweed woven into it, she even has a small purse thing…" his elbow on the table and his head in his hand, Fili listened to his brother as Kili got caught up in talking all about the creature he had met. Fili couldn't help but smile at Kili as the dark haired brother went into detail about the different sounds Tauriel made and how she sounded different above the water compared to under the water. The blond man grinned and idly played with his facial hair, listening intently as his brother even used his hands to demonstrate how Tauriel has touched his face and beard. The clock ticked on, and it wasn't until some time later that Kili was distracted from detailed description of his day.

Kili paused mid sentence as he was telling Fili all about how Tauriel's skin texture had changed from when he saw her underwater when he saw a familiar face enter the bar and head straight to the counter.

"Bran?" Kili called over to his friend. He hadn't seen Bran or Collin since they got back from the submarine journey. Bran gave a look over at Kili, shoulders tensed as though he was expecting something horrid.

"Oh, Kili!" his shoulders relaxed when he saw Kili and Fili sitting at a table. Bran gave Dolly a wave and she gave him a nod that she would get to him in a moment, and then Bran moved over to the brothers and took a seat.

"I haven't seen you," Kili noticed his friend looked like hell. Bran normally took more pride in his appearance, or at least didn't look like he had been running for three days straight.

"Uh yea… been thinking a lot. Needed to be alone. You know how it is…" Bran said, almost as if he was avoiding the question.

"Same, after the sub. Spent some time at home, it did me good," Kili said but stopped when Dolly walked over and put her hand on Bran's shoulder.

"The regular, Bran?" Dolly's voice was deep and husky after years of smoking and working in the smoky bar she owned. Bran shook his head.

"Something stronger."

"A rum and coke? You like 'em with vanilla." Bran gave her a weary smile and a nod. Dolly was very good at knowing what drinks her patrons needed.

"Extra shot," he added as she walked away. He took a left over fry from Kili's plate and Kili decided tonight was not the night to be food possessive.

"Bran, are you… doing okay?" Kili asked cautiously as he watched his friend chugged down his drink in one go.

"I'm fine." Fili and Kili glanced at each other and were silent as Bran asked for just a shot.

"Bran… you've been through some shit," Fili tried to start off the conversation but Bran glared at him.

"The fuck do you know," he spat at Fili, making the hair on the back of Kili's neck rise.

"He means we both almost died. That can mess a person up," Kili tried to calm his friend, not sure he was comfortable with Bran taking a shot and waving for another.

"I'm _fine. _Fucking _dandy. _Couldn't be better," Bran turned his glare to Kili. Kili stared at his friend for a moment before he looked down at his hands.

"I couldn't believe it either, that I had survived. I thought for sure I would die. And when I didn't, well, it changes how you view life, you know? And some crazy shit happened down there. Things that people wouldn't believe unless they had seen it too," Kili looked up at Bran, trying his hardest to keep his voice soft and level. It seemed to have worked, as Bran looked like something between stunned and ready to break down.

"You saw them too?" Bran practically whispered.

"The mermaids?" Kili said in an equally soft voice. Bran cast a glance at Fili, but Fili was neutral and not giving them judgmental looks.

"Fucking devils. Captured us and trapped us like rats." Fili looked at Kili, who looked shocked.

"You were practically unconscious when we found you, you probably don't remember them," Bran muttered, "and now everyone probably thinks we are crazy or something."

"That doesn't matter. What happened was real, whether some professors as Berkley believe us or not," Kili tried to assure his friend. Bran visibly calmed down and took another fry.

"Do you know how Collin is doing?" Bran's expression grew ugly and he looked away.

"The fuck should I know?" Bran demanded to know, arms crossed.

"I haven't heard or seen him, I had hoped maybe you had seen-"

"Why would I see him? I don't want to see him!"

"Bran, what the hell-"

"Just shut up!" The entire bar was silent, staring at Bran who was now standing over Kili and glaring at him. He took a deep breath before he sat down again, trying to not lose it as the brothers looked at each other in confusion. After a long moment of silence Kili remembered the agreement Collin and Bran had made before setting out in the submarine.

"Is this about the bet?" Kili asked as calmly as he could. His words brought back the background buzz of the bar with the eased tensions.

"No! This isn't about some fucking stupid ass bet," Bran snapped.

"Then why are you angry at Collin?"

"Shut your fucking face already! Christ!" Bran slammed his fists on the table, "why the fuck do you keep talking about Collin! Fuck's sake-!"

"Bran what the hell-"

"Fuck it I'm out of here." Bran was up and storming out of the bar before Kili had stood up. Kili ran after his friend and grabbed his arm and received a fist to the cheek.

"Don't fucking touch me! Fuck off!" Kili didn't chase Bran further after that last shout right in his face.

"The fuck was that about?" Fili asked, standing behind Kili and watching Bran stomp off. Kili shook his head and touched his face where his friend had deck him. His jaw clicked when he moved his mouth but at least none of his teeth were loose.

"No idea. I need to talk to Collin," Kili decided as he turned to enter the bar again.

"Want to go now?" Fili followed Kili back to their table.

"No, it's late and I need to be on the boat extra early tomorrow," Kili said as he rubbed his forehead. They both apologized to Dolly and paid before leaving and headed home for the night.

"You free tomorrow?" Kili texted Collin, and he hoped that his friend would come out of hiding and talk to him. He needed to know what the hell had happened between Collin and Bran, especially since he had never seen Bran this angry and aggressive.

Much to Kili's surprise, Collin texted him with a quick, "yea, 10pm on the docks?"

Kili wondered why Collin wanted a less crowded area to meet at, and Fili had no suggestions on what was going on. Kili would have to wait until he was able to talk to his friend face to face to find out what had happened.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Or

Late Night Talk On The Docks

The waves lapped against the numerous boats docked in the surrounding water, the sound had a calming affect on Kili as he walked down the pier that night. He hoped that he would find Collin somewhere along the length of wood stretching out above the water, he had been worried all day about this conversation.

He saw the red head standing at the far end of the dock, dwarfed by the massive ships and equipment required to fish in Alaskan waters. Collin was looking out over the ocean, his back toward Kili and did not turn when the dark haired man approached.

"Collin," Kili said quietly to announce his presence. His friend turned his head but did not quite look at Kili.

"How have you been?" Kili asked lamely, rubbing the back of his neck as he stood next to his friend.

"Fine," Collin muttered.

"Bran said the same thing and socked me in the jaw 10 minutes later." Collin looked at Kili in horror at that information before he looked away.

"I dunno man it's just… shits been happening and I- god damn. I don't know," he rubbed his forehead. Kili gave him a sympathetic pat on shoulder before he sat down. He had a feeling they'd be here a while.

"What happened… down there?" Kili didn't want to bring it up, but he needed to know what could have caused Bran's behavior. Collin just looked at Kili with a curious expression.

"How did you survive? You should have frozen to death in that cave."

"Oh, I- uh," Kili didn't want to tell Collin that Tauriel had kept him alive, not after how Bran had referred to the mermaids. But maybe Collin would be more level headed and wouldn't punch him in the face.

"One of those mermaid things, actually," Collin's surprise encouraged Kili on, "she seemed intrigued, like she didn't know what I was exactly. She fed me and gave me a blanket of some sort to keep warm." The laughter was a surprise, but Kili was glad to see a smile on his friend's face.

"Mermaids kidnapped us and you got turned into a pet! Was there a leash as well?"

"No… but she did get me a rock," Kili was glad the darkness and facial hair concealed the redness in his face as he admitted that. Did Tauriel really think he was a pet? That would be weird.

"I think she was going to keep you as a pet," Collin said with a smirk and thumped Kili on the back as he chuckled again.

"How did you survive? Did any mermaids visit you?" Those questions cut Collin's jovial mood short and his expression turned grim.

"No, after we were taken to the cave we were left alone," Collin looked out at the ocean.

"'We?' Who was with you?"

"Bran," Collin's voice was tight, as though the very thought of Bran caused him pain. Kili looked at the ocean for a moment, wondering if Collin was going to explain.

"And…?" Kili finally asked when he realized Collin was going to stand there silently.

"And what?"

"Did something happen?" he didn't like that he had to drag this out of Collin, but he knew something must have happened to cause such an issue between his friends. Collin closed his eyes and gave a loud sigh.

"We… had to share body heat to survive," Collin didn't look at Kili as he said this, instead looking away.

"…okay, so what, you guys were hugging to not get hypothermia?" Kili raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, not understanding.

"Yeah…"

"So what got up Bran's ass?" Kili demanded, watching Collin shift uncomfortably.

"Nothing, technically speaking…" Kili stared at Collin for a moment, then looked out over the water for several long minutes.

"Did… did Bran think that sharing body heat was gay or something?" he slowly asked as he looked back at Collin. Collin just pursed his lips and nodded once.

"I got punched in the face because Bran was worried he was gay? Christ, you were sharing body heat not jerking each other!" Collin snorted and chuckle at that, trying to suppress more as Kili turned to face Collin head on.

"So all of this is because Bran is afraid of acting gay? Fucking ridiculous…" Kili continued, shaking his head in anger. What a stupid thing to be worried about, how could Bran be that thick?

"Something like that," Collin said as Kili gave him a solid thump to the shoulder as he broke into laughs.

"Bran can be so idiotic… c'mon, I'm starving, let's get something to eat before the storm hits," Kili suggested to Collin, who nodded and followed his childhood friend to find a late dinner. Kili hoped that now that he had finally gotten a hold of Collin that he could talk Bran down from this stupid problem. He also hoped that the forecasted storm was not as serious as the news stations were making it out to be.

* * *

"I thought you said you knew how to drive a boat!" For a man, his voice was quite shrill when he got anxious. The man in question was handsome but inexperienced with oceans that were not near tropical islands.

"Can you even drive boats? Sail boats?" The second man was taller than the first, his dark complexion indicating desert heritage.

"This boat doesn't have any sails!" The third and final man said, the one trying to get the ship home before the very ominous clouds reached them. So far it was not going well as their speedboat was designed for smooth sailing, not choppy pre-storm waves.

"JUST GET US OUT OF HERE!" The first man said, grabbing at his blond hair as he began to panic.

"There are waves everywhere!" The third pointed out even though it was obvious.

"CONGRATS YOU REALIZED WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING OCEAN FUCKWAD."

"YOU WANT TO STEER?"

"I have the map…" The second friend cut in to the screaming of his friends, holding up a map he had just found under a seat. What a strange place to store a map.

"WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN HOW IS A MAP GOING TO HELP US?"

"YOU AREN'T HELPING!"

"I just have a map…" The darkest of the three mumbled, looking down at his find.

"Well OKAY what sort of map is it?" The first one demanded to know. The second one wrinkled in nose in confusion.

"…A map of Alabama, I think," was the map holder's answer.

"We're gonna fucking die," declared the first, throwing up his hands in exasperation. The self appointed captain of this ill planned venture saw the water rise on their side.

"WAVE!" He was barely able to warn before the tower of water slammed into them, knocking all three of them down to the deck, the force of the water shoving them all to the side and two overboard.

"Leo?" The captain called, looking for his friends when he scrambled back to his chair.

"Jasper!?" He spun around, realizing that his friends were in the water, trying to stay afloat. He caught sight of the blond, Leo, but could not see his darker friend Jasper.

Jasper was currently underwater, staring at a peculiar creature with pale flesh and red hair. She looked up at the surface, picking out the boat immediately and quickly finding the second man in the water. Jasper was busy flailing; trying to get to the surface but was fighting against a much stronger current, while also trying to get away from the thing as it reached for him. He screamed, nothing but bubbles and muffled sound in the water as she wrapped powerful arms around him and swam to the surface. Jasper sputtered when they broke the surface before he resumed screaming even as the mermaid got him to the side of the boat. He needed no help scrambling onboard in his fear, much to the surprise of his friend in the boat.

Leo had been thrown a life preserver and clung to it desperately, trying to swim back to the boat in the waves on his own. He could barely make out Jasper clamber onto the boat in the rolling water and then saw a strange and large fin breech the surface, headed straight toward him.

"FELIX GET ME OUT OF HERE!" the blond screamed, terrified of what was coming at him and circling him with fins that were almost glowing. He felt something touch his torso, pushing him toward the boat as he thrashed helplessly against the water. Leo and Jasper grabbed his shoulders as soon as he got within reach and hauled him onto the board, staring in horror at the long thing in the water, dots of light lining the creature's body. All three screamed when a head poked out of the water, revealing a woman's face with red hair. She looked up at them and pointed.

"Kili home," she called to them before she grabbed the life preserver that they had not retrieved from the water. She dove into the water, swimming and pulling the bright orange circle with her. Felix didn't need to be told twice and turned the boat in that direction, putting the engine into full throttle.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Jasper screamed, grabbing at the seats to not fall down.

"A fucking mermaid showed up and is showing us the way home! What do you want a message from God Himself complete with a choir of angels?" Felix shouted back, hoping that she wasn't going to lead them to some rocks and eat them for dinner. The three friends held on as the boat raced over the waves, Leo in particular had to focus on not losing the contents of his stomach. When the mermaid let go and they pulled the floating ring back on board they continued in the direction she had set them, and they were able to make it safely back to land before the full storm hit.

The mermaid who had saved them dove down deeper into the water, safer below all the water than she would have been on the surface. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly, finding comfort in the darkness that was illuminated by the light in her skin. She reached the sea floor in little time, relatively close to shore and not near her home in the trench where the water depth blocked out all sunlight. Her body went still, focusing on the shifting water around her, sensing the slightest changes. The only thing that moved were her eyes, scanning the bottom for something off. A section of sand curled up and she darted toward it, grappling with the octopus in her hands for only a moment before she killed it with her teeth. Dinnertime, but first she had to address the creature approaching her. She ripped off an arm from the octopus and looked at the approaching figure, recognizing the markings made of light.

_"Tauriel,"_ the familiar voice of her friend brought her joy. She offered the male the arm of her kill, but he waves his hand to gesture that he did not want it. Her friend had not come unarmed, equipped with his knives and clad in armor.

_"Long have you been missing from us,"_ he said, a hurt tone in his clicks as he swam close to her. His pale blond hair floated behind him as he stopped next to her, his eyes quickly glancing over her. He smelled no blood on her, she was not injured, but he was still worried for her.

_"You need not fear, Legolas, I can fend for myself,"_ she assured him, extending her arm to him. He took it, and they gripped each other's forearm in a firm and affectionate hold in greeting.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Or

Everything's Better Down Where It's Wetter

_"You are without weapons, an easy target for the humans,"_ he was not going to let her carelessness go without reprimand. She merely took another bite of her catch before answering him.

_"The human bears no ill will,"_ Legolas blew a burst of water in irritation and his pointed ears disappeared back into his hair. She ignored his obvious irritation, busy eating.

_"The one, but the rest? They deserve your trust?"_ he questioned her, but she did not answer until she had finished her meal.

_"I am no threat, I go unarmed,"_ she insisted, floating down to the sea floor, searching. She picked up a rock, turned it over in her hands, and then put it down. After she had done this with three more rocks Legolas finally broke the silence with a question.

_"What are you searching for?"_

_"A rock for the human,"_ the merwoman said as though it was obvious.

_"The human enjoys rocks?"_ the male flicked his ears forward and back in confusion.

_"He carries one with him,"_ again she spoke as though her friend should already know.

_"They must have devolved, their poisons that leech into our water has addled them,"_ she ignored the harshness in his scoff as she located the perfect stone: a smooth grey rock.

_"Perhaps,"_ was all she conceded as she rolled onto her back, holding the rock over her stomach as she began to etch into it with one of her claws. The larger one swam above her, trying to see what she was carving.

_"Why did you still seek him?"_ he asked after several moments of silence.

_"He fascinates me."_

_"He and the others invaded our waters and endangered us, and that fascinates you?"_

_"Did they intend to? Or were the humans curious?"_ she paused in her work to look up at him. His ears went back, disappearing into his hair, and he blew a snort of bubbles.

_"You see yourself in them, you think too highly of the savages. They care nothing for nature or balance. Return to the depths with me,"_ he touched her arm, spinning her so she was facing the sea floor, and gestured toward the depths.

_"The metal boat they came in, it was not like the others, it bore no weapons. They meant no harm,"_ she let herself float down to the sand below, studying the rock she held carefully before resuming her work.

_"Perhaps their weapons were broken, we have encountered their under water boats before."_

_"But not for many cycles. They may have changed."_

_"Or wage war on their land instead of in our sea. The remains of their wars still endanger us,"_ she ignored his point, flicking her tail as she kept her eyes on the rock in her hand.

_"We know which areas to avoid,"_ he flared at her statement.

_"We should not have to be wary in our own home of their toxins and death traps!"_ he hissed in anger and she puffed, looking up from her work.

_"Then perhaps it is good I am in contact with a human, he may be able to help remove what his kind left behind,"_ she said smartly, amused when Legolas flicked his tail and swam in a tight circle in irritation.

_"Interactions with them have not ended well in hundreds of cycles, and how many of our kind came to be because of their superstitious cruelty? How many more died by the hands of men?"_ he circled her as he asked his questions. She pinned her ears back, glaring at him before she relaxed.

_"I understand,"_ she said as she put the rock into the seaweed pouch entwined in her hair.

_"But you will not stop,"_ his anger abated and he moved his tail away from her, breaking his physical ring around her.

_"Not unless the surface is expressly forbidden,"_ she took hold of his fin on his mid back, clicking a giggle as he towed her through lazy loops in the water.

_"At least take weapons to defend yourself,"_ he offered one of his knives to her, even though she had her own weapons.

_"I go unarmed to show I am mean no harm," _her explanation did not soothe his concern and he returned his knife to its sheath when she did not take it.

_"Humans are brash and stupid, I do not believe they will understand your intent," _he hissed aggressively, his fin spine flaring under her hand.

_"The one I have encountered is no threat to me, he is simply curious,"_ she tried to assure him but he stopped his lazy swimming and twisted to face her properly.

_"And if his curiosity traps you in a net?"_ His fins relaxed and his ears fell.

_"Then I will make it clear that taking me prisoner was a fatal mistake,"_ she bared her teeth but he did not seem convinced. He continued to stare at her and she looked away, letting go of his fin.

_"Will you tell your father?"_ she asked, pulling the hair from her face that the current had pushed in.

_"No, but he has noticed your absence. But I will not lie to him if he asks," _she was glad for his honesty and swished her tail, pushing herself away from him.

_"Nor should you. I shall return home soon, farewell, Legolas!"_ she called, darting away to the surface several hundred feet above them.

_"Tauriel- wait!"_ he called after her, chasing her through the ocean but stopped a few hundred feet from the surface. He watched her, picking out the glowing pattern of her skin until she was nothing more than a speck headed toward shore.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Or

An Uneventful Day

Kili spent the night at Collin's, catching up on how the other had been and listening to the pounding rain from the storm. They passed out on the couch watching the lightning, not caring enough to move to a bed.

A buzzing phone woke up Kili early in the morning, who wondered what Fili could want so early. He wasn't late for anything, and he had told Fili he might hang out with Collin.

"'ello?" was Kili's groggy answer to his brother's call.

"Kili, you might want to get into town," he heard an odd urgency in Fili's voice that made him wake up fully.

"Why? What happened? Did the storm damage the boats?"

"The boats are fine, but uh… it's Tauriel," Kili jumped up at that, grabbing his stuff as quickly as he could.

"What? Is she okay? Did she wash up on shore?" he demanded in a rush, waking up Collin.

"Whazzup?" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes and stretching while Kili frantically made sure he had everything he needed.

"She's fine, but some guys have seen her, just get here soon," Fili reassured his brother, although the blonde brother had a bad feeling about this. It's one thing to have someone claiming to see a monster, but it's another matter entirely when a group of scientists have documentation and are searching for that monster with the media watching closely.

"Hopefully nothing, Collin, I'll catch you later. And I'll be there soon, Fili," Kili told both of them, hanging up the phone and bidding Collin a good day. While he was glad nothing had happened to Tauriel, he was not sure if this would cause problems for her or not. But the ocean was huge, and no one really believed the crew that was with him on the sub that saw the mermaids, it had just been chalked up to another hoax or some undiscovered fish in the ocean. That they had very good photos of. And multiple eye witness accounts of. And a host of other scientific data sets that Kili didn't even understand how it was supposed to be evidence. Something about how quickly the submarine had sunk and the damage it had taken as well as the gps tracker on it.

Yeah. It'll be fine.

Kili arrived in town and headed straight for Dolly's, recognizing some of the cars that the marine biologists were using while in Alaska. Looked like they had figured out Dolly's was one of the main meeting places for the seafarers. When he entered he saw an exhausted looking Dolly at the bar, seems she had had a late night with the storm, and a gathering of people around three young men that Kili did not know. But he headed over to where he and his brother normally sat, finding his brother already there. He gave Dolly a wave and a smile, which she returned with a nod and covered a yawn, grabbing a glass and bringing a plate of food she had been keeping warm over to him.

"Late night?" he asked the older woman and she nodded once, glancing over at the group.

"Storm broke a tree by my house and broke a window. Kinda hard to sleep with that. And then there's these jokers came in first thing and expect some five star meal and start talking and calling people. It's going to be a long day," she chatted, ending with another yawn before she headed back to work. Kili glanced at the group, Fili remaining silent to eavesdrop, although it wasn't difficult at the volume they were speaking at.

"-bioluminescent?" was the first part that Kili overheard, one of the scientists was asking, a notebook in hand.

"It wasn't a firefly!" the lightest of the three men in the center said indignantly, running a hand through his blond hair.

"Those're just tall tales, you just saw somethin'," one of the fishermen said with a dismissive wave of his hand, "swallowed too much seawater when you went over."

"Felix didn't go overboard! And he saw it too!" the darkest of the three grabbed his friend as though to emphasis his point, much to Felix's surprise.

"It may have been the same creature we came across-" a scientist tried to suggest to a much larger fisherman who snorted in response.

"You went too deep and hallucinated from the pressure change! No one would have survived being taken out of a submarine by mermaids and then find a way to escape!"

"But the mermaid was friendly, why did they take you hostage?" Felix asked the scientist, ignoring the fisherman after his explanation. The scientist nodded, reaching into his bag and pulling out photos.

"They're a hoax!" the fisherman said in exasperation, throwing up his hands and walking away, but the three men crowded around to look.

"Is this what you saw?" Kili couldn't see what the images were from where he was sitting, slowly eating his food, but he knew that the submarine had gotten footage that included some of the merfolk.

"Yeah! It looked like that! Except with red hair, not blonde like in this picture," one of the three answered while the other two nodded, looking through the images.

"We, my coworkers and I that is, are trying to find them again, to prove what we saw down there was real. If you could give us any information about where you saw the specimen and any other details it would be greatly appreciated," the scientist explained, taking the images back and putting them safely in the bag.

"We were lost," Felix said, looking embarrassed to acknowledge the fact, but his blond friend spoke up.

"What sort of information? And how would be you showing us your… appreciation?" he grinned widely at the last question, receiving a smack on the back of the head from his dark friend.

"Don't be a greedy asshole, Leo. We're already rich, and we'll be famous if we help them find the mermaids."

"Anyway, I'm sure you will be credited for assisting us, and perhaps you will be able to name the species. Any information or observations you made would be helpful, such as about how large and wide it was, how many teeth, the fins, the coloration-"

"She talked," Felix cut in, making the scientist halt, not from the interruption but because of what he had said.

"Talked? Words?" the scientist said slowly, picking up the pen and notebook again.

"Yeah, when she showed us the way back to shore, she said something. Something home," Felix continued, trying to remember.

"English? 'Something home'?" the man taking notes asked for clarification, grinning at this new information.

"Oh yeah, 'keel home'? 'Kill home'? 'Klee home'? Something like that," Leo chimed in, not noticing the sound of clattering silverware.

"'Kili home,' I bet," Fili whispered to his brother, noticing how pale Kili had gotten. Kili nodded once, feeling both pride that he had taught her a word and that she had saved three men's lives but also a stab of fear. If the marine biologists got a hold of her, if the media got a hold of her, they'd probably kill her, cut her up and study her. Or they'd keep her in some aquarium.

His moment of panicked fear was interrupted by Fili nudging him under the table and nodding toward the door. Fili stood, giving Dolly a wave indicating they were leaving, and Kili followed his brother, trying to keep a steady pace instead of running for the door.

The scientist and the three men did not notice the brothers exit, instead wound up their own conversation and speculation, the scientist trying to get any sort of useful information and the three men being less than helpful. The group halted their discussion was someone tapped the scientist's shoulder.

"Dr. Yandell, you're going after those things, aren't you? When you do, I want to go with," Bran said, having listened to the conversation from his own table out of sight from the brothers. The marine biologist recognized Bran as one of the crewmembers on the submarine, and nodded with a smile.

"Kili, how much longer are we going to look for her?" Fili asked, bored after being on the boat for several hours with no sign of Tauriel anywhere. Kili remained where he was on the edge of the boat, scanning the waves for any sign of the mermaid.

"She's fine, Kili, she wouldn't have survived this long if she wasn't smart and strong. And how did you find her last time anyway?" Fili spoke up again when his brother didn't answer for several long minutes. The last question made Kili sigh and sit down on the floor of the boat, closing his eyes and giving them a rest.

"I didn't, she found me. I don't know how she managed to find me in this ocean, but somehow she did," Kili explained, glancing at his brother when Fili sat next to him.

"Maybe she doesn't want to be found today. You should come up with a way to call her, so you can find her easier," Fili suggested, trying to think of some way to send a signal through the water that a mermaid would understand as a sort of beacon.

"I just want to make sure she is okay," Kili muttered, not having an immediate idea to Fili's suggestion.

"Why wouldn't she be?"

"What if she isn't afraid of humans because of me? What if she trusts all humans now and gets hurt?"

"From what you've told me she sounds intelligent, I have no doubt she can take care of herself. And, if she is more animal than human, animals are good at telling which people are nice and which aren't," Fili tried to reassure him, getting a weak smile out of his brother.

"Yeah, I guess… I guess you're right. Should we head back?" Kili asked, still worried but accepting that he couldn't do anything about it. Fili was about to answer when they heard a growling. They looked down at their stomachs, not sure whose it had originated from, and started laughing.

"That answers that! I'll get to meet her another time," Fili said, standing up and offering his brother a hand. Kili took it, and together they headed back to shore, realizing they were had yet to come up with a reason as to why they hadn't been able to work on their uncle's boat today.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Or

This Is My Brother, Fili

Life had resumed its normalcy, Kili along with his brother and friends were busy working on ships as fishing seasons got underway. While Kili worked on a massive boats for weeks at a time he could almost pass off the mermaids as some dream he had had, and yet Fili noticed his brother would occasionally gaze into the water, searching for a mass of red under the waves. But there was never a mermaid looking up at them, just their catch being hauled onboard.

On the ship and away from shore, they were removed from the rest of the world. Although Kili never mentioned anything, Fili knew at the back of his brother's mind he was wondering if someone had seen her. But there was no easy way to call back to the mainland and find out the latest news, especially not for gossip and rumor. So it was no surprise to Fili when they got back on shore for a few days that Kili immediately told Fili he had an idea and disappeared for the rest of the day.

"A bunch of sheets? That was your plan?" Fili asked when he saw a mass of fabric on the boat. Kili had sent him a text telling him to come to their boat so they could go find Tauriel, and Fili had not wasted time going down to the docks to meet his younger brother.

"It'll make more sense once we get out there," Kili insisted, starting the engine and navigating out into the open ocean once his brother was onboard. Fili went along with it, waving at any passing fishermen that they knew.

"Has she been sighted recently?" Fili asked, and Kili shook his head.

"So you have no idea where you are going?"

"I'm heading to where I met her last time, now take over for me, I want to get the rig set up," the blond slipped into Kili's spot, continuing the boat in the same direction, and watched his brother with curiosity as his brother started messing around with the sheets.

"A rig? For what? This isn't a sail boat…" to add to his confusion, Fili noticed a long loop of chain attached to the brightly colored blanket. It looked like Kili had gone to a hippie store, bought all the brightly colored fabric he could, and stitched it all together to make a single massive sheet.

"Cut the engine real quick," Fili followed his brother's request, watching as Kili secured the chain to two points on the boat and shoved the entire mass off the stern, the chain long enough to let it all flow behind the boat without being too close to the propeller. Fili started the engine again and at Kili's signal, glancing back and seeing the blanket unfurl in the water, creating a long trail behind them. Fili had to admit, it more than doubled the length of their boat, they would be easier to spot from below, and maybe the bright neon colors would attract a mermaid's attention.

"How long do we wait?" Fili asked when they arrived at the spot Kili had directed them to. Kili pulled out a deck of cards, grinning at his brother.

"You're joking," Fili said, staring at the cards.

"I packed sandwiches."

"You're not joking," Fili rubbed his face, not sure he wanted to wait out here for twelve hours to meet a mythical creature. But at least they wouldn't get hungry this time.

After Fili had played about a dozen rounds of solitaire and Kili and remained fixed in place, looking for any sign of Tauriel, Fili finally talked Kili into switching places.

"At this rate, you'll start imagining things, I'll keep a look out for a while," Fili had assured his brother, taking a seat and looking over the side. Kili flipped through the cards quickly, Fili could tell his brother was impatient by the loud snapping of cards being flipped onto the deck with more force than necessary. He held back a chuckle, watching the water.

It looked like the ocean, miles of waves without any sign of life this far out. Just water rushing up and down in rhythm. There was nothing quite like watching the sea as it breathed in and out, pushing and pulling the water. But, this wasn't want Kili wanted to see today, he was hoping for a head of red hair to poke through the surface. Fili looked back at the flowing color behind the boat, moving up and down as the water rocked them gently. Kili's plan may not have worked after all.

When Kili had gone into his seven round of solitaire, Fili realized that the blanket was moving the wrong direction. He stood, leaning over the side and looking closer at the fabric, his movement getting Kili's attention.

"Tauriel?" Kili shouted to the movement, and the bump pushed the blanket up out of the water. Before Fili registered what was happening Kili's shirt had hit him in the head.

"Kili? Wait you can't just jump into-" his protests were ignored as Kili jumped into the water, and the bump in the blanket disappeared. Fili moved to the back of the boat, looking between his brother and the blanket.

"Oh…" was all Fili managed when a face appeared from under the blanket just near the edge, rising up out of the water with the fabric draped over her head like a veil. She emitted a squeak, happy to see the human again, and dipped under the water again.

Kili grinned at her under the water, watching her as she swam under him, rolling and clicking. He headed back to the boat, motioning with his hands for her to follow. It was a cloudy day, which meant it would probably be safe for her to be out of the water for a while. She seemed to understand, and pushed him out of the water as he climbed up the side of the boat. Fili stared in fascination as her webbed hands appeared, nails hard claws that looked like they could pierce the boat if she gripped the side too hard. Kili was grinning from ear to ear, looking at his brother's face as Tauriel hauled herself up after Kili. Fili just stared at her when her head appeared above the side of the boat, and she froze in place, staring back at Fili. She glanced between Kili and Fili, as though trying to understand, before she pushed herself back and disappeared into the water.

"Tauriel- no wait! He's friendly! It's just my brother!" Kili yelled, trying to get her to come back as he looked back into the water, seeing her disappear as she headed down.

"Damn, I was hoping she would stay…" Kili muttered, sitting down. A towel landed on him, and he looked at his brother who was smiling.

"But I got to see her," Fili said, his smile turning sympathetic as his brother got the water off to warm back up.

"So she is real, I've seen her now too. Maybe she is just shy around new humans?" Fili tried to comfort his brother, who was now sulking into the towel around him.

"I pushed her too fast. She's only seen me twice, three times now. What if she doesn't trust me anymore?" Kili fretted, getting the water out of his hair.

"I'm sure you'll see her again. Do you want to wait for a while and see if she comes back?" Fili offered, amused when Kili nodded sheepishly.

Three rounds of card games later, they heard something on the side of the boat, and saw two clawed hands gripping the edge. Kili stood up immediately, rushing over the side and not containing his excitement as he watched Tauriel pull herself onto the boat. Fili was confused about why Kili started laughing, and why Tauriel had a fish in her mouth.

"She… was hungry?" he asked slowly, watching Tauriel carefully pull herself onto the boat, so as to not cause any injuries like she had before.

"She wants you to eat it," Kili said with a laugh as Tauriel sprawled out on the deck, taking the fish from her mouth and offering it to Fili with her hand.

"… What?" Fili stared at his brother before looking back at the fish.

"I think it's a greeting or something. She gave me a fish the first time too, you'll have to take a bite or else she'll keep bringing you things to eat," Kili explained, watching the look of disgust on Fili's face as he picked up the fish from her hand.

"It's still warm."

"She caught it fresh," Kili grinned, looking from his brother to the mermaid, who was looking at Fili expectantly.

"This is gross," Fili whined, trying to put off the inevitable for as long as possible.

"We had to eat a frozen fish head when we first started working on the boats," he pointed out, trying to get his brother to get over it and eat the fish.

"Doesn't mean I'll like it."

"Just take a bite!" Fili closed his eyes and bit into the fish, trying to swallow the piece as quickly as possible while Kili laughed. Tauriel seemed satisfied once Fili had swallowed, and looked to Kili.

"Kili," was all she said before she looked to Fili and back to Kili.

"Tauriel, this is Fili. Fili, Tauriel," he introduced them, Tauriel watching his finger as he pointed to Fili when saying his name. She blinked once, studying Fili.

"Hi there!" Fili said, not sure what to do.

"Fili," she said slowly, trying out the 'f' in his name. Fili laughed, partly out of shock, and looked between his brother and the mermaid.

"Yeah, Fili, that's me," he said pointing to himself, and Tauriel clicked as those satisfied.

"You should ask what her gender is," Fili said to his brother.

"What? No! How would I explain that to her?"

"Well you don't know if it is a her! Maybe all mermaids have boobs!" Fili pointed out, Tauriel looking between them as they spoke, trying to understand.

"She only knows a few words, and none of them would help explain," Kili said, wondering what his brother was going to do when Fili looked determined.

"Tauriel," he addressed her and she looked at him, curious, "are you a boy or a girl?"

Kili slapped his forehead, and Tauriel tilted her head before she clicked and started rummaging through her hair. Fili stared in bewilderment when he realized that she had a bag woven into her hair, and looked at Kili when she produced a rock, giving it to him.

"Kili," she said, offering him the rock that he accepted with a smile.

"Thanks," he grinned and Fili started chuckling until Tauriel looked at him again, as though waiting for something.

"Uhh, Kili and I, we're boys," Fili tried again, pointing to himself and his brother. She followed the finger and looked back at him.

"She may just think boy means human and girl means mermaid if you explain it like that," Kili pointed out, ignoring the dirty look Fili gave him.

"We have dicks," Fili ignored his brother pointing out that she wouldn't know what that means either and continued, "we, uhh…" he halted, trying to figure something out. He raised his hands, forming a circle with one and extending his finger on the other.

"Oh my god," Kili muttered, watching his brother embarrass himself.

"Boys have dicks, girls have vaginas," he began again, moving each hand as he demonstrated the pointed finger was a dick and his curled hand was a vagina, "and they go together like this during sex," he showed her with the hand motion, although she did not seem any closer to understanding.

"Kili show her your dick," Fili said in exasperation.

"No!" granted he had already swam with her naked, but he wasn't about to pull his dick out for this.

"I meant your finger, do the hand!" Fili hastily explained, and Kili sighed but complied, raising one finger.

"Kili boy, Fili boy," Fili said again, holding up his finger. Tauriel looked between the two, looking at the hands and the humans attached to them before she clicked in a series of excited squeaks.

"I think she got it!" Fili said in triumph, until Tauriel circled her arms around Kili, who started laughing.

"Last time, we played a game where we would swim through arm circles," Kili explained to the clueless Fili who groaned and held his head in his hands. Tauriel flicked her tail, puzzled by the disappointed human, and let go of Kili in order to circle him with her entire body. This made Kili laugh more, and even Fili started laughing.

"I think we'll have to ask about her gender another time," Fili said between laughs, his expression seemed to please Tauriel and she rolled over onto her back, exposing her belly.

"Let's wait until she has a few more words down, though," Kili suggested, calming down as Tauriel started touching his hair.

"So what shall we talk about instead? What should we try to teach her?" Fili asked, fascinated at Tauriel took a section of Kili's long and messy hair in her hand and ran her webbed fingers through it. She combed out the piece of hair in her hands and braided it, much to the brothers' surprise, although when they examined her hair they could see braids laced through the red tresses.

"I think just talking will help her understand our language, she may pick up the words by hearing them," Kili pointed out, and Fili agreed.

The following hours involved mindless discussion about anything they could think of, during which Tauriel braided several sections of Kili's hair before moving over and studying Fili. She was enthralled by the clothes, feeling how dry Fili's shirt was and the different textures of the different fabrics. Now and then she would pause in her study and listen closely to the conversation, watching how their lips formed words, and touched Fili's face as he talked to better understand the vibrations. He was startled when she first did it, but Kili assured him that she had done that before, and it seemed to help her learn words as she began to repeat words that kept coming up in conversation. They sounded like questions, like she was rolling around the word in her mouth and was confused by them but saying them enough times would make her understand. Whether or not she would be able to use the words properly the brothers did not know, but Fili began to understand the look of pride and wonder on Kili's face when he had told Fili about the mermaid.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Or

There Are Stars On Your Skin

"Hey Fili, just got back from hanging with Tauriel, what're all the calls for?" Kili called his brother after he had docked the boat. It had been a few months since Fili and Tauriel had met, and while sometimes Fili went out with his brother to see the mermaid, today was one of the days he had chosen not to. What was unusual about today was the seven missed calls from Fili when he had arrived back on shore, close enough to land to receive a proper cell signal.

"Be careful coming into town, I overheard some people were looking for you," Fili's voice was hushed, and Kili thought in the background he could hear people talking.

"What sort of people?"

"Those scientists on the sub, and they've got reporters with them."

"But they left town months ago, why are they back?" Kili wondered out loud as he walked down the pier.

"Those rich guys Tauriel saved, remember? Looks like they got the money to an expedition."

"So why are they looking for me?" Kili was unsure how he factored into this.

"They were chatting with the other locals to get information, someone dropped your name. Dr. Yarnsomething realized they never interviewed you or something after what happened on the sub. I think they already talked to Collin and Bran about it, you're the last person for them to talk to, based on what I overheard," Kili thought he heard a car in the background, and wondered where his brother could be.

"Yandell, I think. Next time we see Tauriel we'll have to tell her to be careful, she's been seen too many times. She missed you, by the way, and gave me something to give to you," he told his older brother with a grin, looking at the bag carrying the treasures.

"Oh, what did she bring us this time?"

"I think a plate from a ship for me, and she brought you a necklace."

"A necklace?" he could hear the slight disappointment in his brother's voice at that.

"Made of bones. I think she made it herself."

"That's pretty badass," Fili sounded much better about the prospect of getting a necklace made out of bones.

"Where are you?"

"Outside Dolly's, sitting at the bench across the street," that would explain the cars Kili was hearing in the background.

"I'll meet you there."

"I can get you some food and we can head back home, they're waiting around inside for you. Be a good way to avoid them for a little while," Fili offered but was surprised by his brother's sigh and response.

"They'll find me one way or another, may as well try to throw them off. Be there in a few minutes."

"I'll get us a table then."

Kili walked into Dolly's, heading straight for where he and Fili normally sat and doing his best to not look at the people waiting for him.

"Mr. Durinson!"

Damn it.

"Dr. Yandell… it's been a while. Any near death experiences lately?" Kili said with as polite a tone as he could muster in the situation.

"Thankfully no, but speaking of near death experiences, I wanted to talk to you about what happened, and see if you were interested in helping us find out what we saw down there," Dr. Yandell continued on as brightly as he could.

"Why would I want to get into a submarine again? I am never getting into one of those damned things," Kili declared, took the last two steps to the table where his brother was, and sat down.

"I respect that decision, but if I could just have a moment of your time," Dr. Yandell sat down next to Fili, much to Fili's confusing at being shoved over in the booth, "what did you see down there?"

"My life flash before my eyes. It's not something I want to think about," Kili snapped, although the scientist just took out his notebook and prepared to write.

"The locals tell me you seemed to have an interest in the creatures, have you gone looking for one? Have you seen one since the expedition?" Dr. Yandell pressed on, ignoring the sharpness in Kili's voice.

"No. Why would I go looking for something that tried to kill me? I may work a dangerous job, but I don't go looking for my death."

"Perhaps. What do you remember from when we were captured by the creatures?"

"Nothing I want to remember. You were there, you know what happened," Kili tried to deflect him, getting anxious by the questions.

"But you were alone, and I have statements from the rest of the crew, you're the only one we don't know about."

"Well I don't know what happened either."

"When we found you, you were wrapped in seaweed," Dr. Yandell said, a slight smirk on his face when Kili's poker face cracked for a moment.

"I don't remember you finding me, I was unconscious, remember?"

"Did you wake up when you were alone in the cave, before we arrived?"

"I don't remember. No," Kili said again, wondering what Dr. Yandell could possibly be writing in his notebook.

"Now if I remember correctly," Dr. Yandell flipped to an earlier page in his notebook to double check, "you were curious about the location of a sighting shortly after the expedition. You spoke with an Ed Ornberg, Greg Radake, and 'Hotrod.'"

Dr. Yandell paused for a moment and looked up at Kili and asked, "I've never heard anyone say Hotrod's name, what is it?" Kili was glad for the distraction.

"No idea. I don't think I've ever heard it before," Kili admitted. He had spent most of his life fishing here, but had never found out what Hotrod's real name was. Dr. Yandell considered this for a moment and made a note.

"Now then, am I correct that you spoke with them?"

"Why don't you ask them?" Kili said smartly, frowning when Dr. Yandell smiled at him.

"I did, I just want your confirmation."

"Then you have your answer."

"So what changed?" Dr. Yandell's question threw Kili off guard.

"What?"

"Well at one point there is clear evidence that you were looking for the creatures, asking about where they had been sighted and then leaving, presumably to go and see for yourself. And yet now you are quite adamant about not assisting us. What changed?"

"I realized I didn't want to die. There are things in the ocean that we should leave alone. We have no business going down that deep, it's not natural."

"But those creatures are coming to us now."

"And last year Hotrod was convinced he had seen Nessie. The year before that people thought there were giant crocodiles. Growing up there was a group of people looking for some other sea monster,"

"Kraken." Fili chimed in, remembering the ridiculous amount of cameras the people had with them.

"No, that was another group, I'm thinking the seaweed monster."

"Oh yeah, that was weird," Fili muttered, wondering what ever happened to that group. He also couldn't help but wonder if those sea monsters were actually real, if mermaids were real why not the Loch Ness monster?

"So you think the monsters the fishermen are seeing now are not the same ones we witnessed on our expedition?" Dr. Yandell said, frantically scribbling.

"Why would a deep sea monster come up to the surface? Point is, people didn't start seeing it until after we came back and told everyone about it. They are probably still at the bottom of the ocean, where they belong. Now, can I have a bite to eat, or do you want to ask my life story while you're at it?" Dr. Yandell took the hint, and after thanking Kili bid them both farewell.

Unfortunately, Kili wasn't off the hook yet and was ambushed by a woman armed with a recorder and notebook when he and Fili tried to leave.

"Mr. Durinson, a moment of your time, please?" the woman asked, not giving him a chance to respond as she continued, "I'm Murienn Kraus, reporter for-"

"Honestly, Miss, I don't want to talk to any reporters. I just want to go home before a long day of work tomorrow," he interjected, but she just kept going, ignoring his protests.

"You were on the expedition that saw the sea monsters, correct? My readers want to know, and many have claimed it is a hoax, what do you have to say?"

"We know more about the Moon than we do the ocean, who knows what is out there. Now, please get that recorder out of my face," Kili said, trying to walk away but the reporter stood in his way, pushing the recorder closer.

"So you did see something down there! Do you think they are dangerous? What do you think they are? Why are they coming to the surface? The public has a right-"

"The public has a right to leave the man alone! You've been harassing my customers long enough!" the two brothers looked back in surprise as Dolly appeared in the doorway.

"I have a right to-"

"I already told you to leave the premises! Now shoo with you before I call the police to have you forcibly removed!" the owner of the diner held up a phone to emphasis her point, making the reporter back down.

"Mr. Durinson, here is my card, when you want to have a proper conversation in a more civilized location, do give me a call!" she said with honey in her voice, shoving the card into Kili's hand before walking away. The brothers looked at the older woman and she patted Kili on the shoulder.

"Sorry about that, hon, she was harassing some of the captains earlier, looking for gossip about that sea monster. You boys have a good night!" they thanked her profusely and she bid them good night, returning to her customers.

"So, now what?" Fili asked as they walked down the street. Kili reached into the bag, pulling ou the bone necklace she had given to him.

"Here, didn't want to give it to you back there in case someone asked," Kili dropped the necklace into Fili's hand, and he raised it up to inspect it, letting it drape down his arm.

"Are these shark teeth?" he asked, looking at the massive teeth mingled between bones. It would easily loop over his head, and it definitely looked impressive with all the teeth and bones linked together, like some cliché voodoo bone necklace except real and therefore much more awesome.

"Think so. I'm gonna go back out, I want her to be as far away from here as possible for a while, just in case," Kili told his brother of his plan.

"It'll be dark soon," Fili pointed out, and Kili shrugged.

"It's not like we haven't been on boats at night before. I'll be back tomorrow in time to get to work, I promise," Kili said, parting ways with Fili to head back out to the boat. Fili nodded and waved his brother off, and Kili set back out again.

He was lucky this time, Tauriel was still near the surface and was confused but happy to see him twice in one day. She swam alongside the boat for a time before Kili cut the power, frowning while she happily jumped out of the water, circling the boat and clicking before she got closer. She poked her head out of the water, looking up at Kili with a smile, she had figured out how to do that from watching Kili and Fili, but her smile faded when she saw his grim expression.

"Kili? What?" she had also learned that 'what' went with questions, although she had not yet figured out the different words for different questions.

"There is trouble, Tauriel," he told her, and she cocked her head, clicking once. He sighed and extended his hand. She didn't take it, but she knew that it was an invitation to come aboard. She climbed onboard, hissing at the sun on the cloudless day. Kili hauled the mass of wet fabric he had used earlier to get her attention to her, and she crawled under the damp blanket to keep safe. Kili and Fili had found out the hard way that not only did Tauriel not like the sun, it also caused damage if she was kept in direct sunlight for too long.

Nestled in the blanket she asked again, "What?"

"There are people who want to find you. Other humans that aren't nice like me and Fili," she crossed her arms in front of herself, resting her head on her arms and looking up at him, not understanding.

"You need to stay away from here, for a while at least. You need to return home," she tilted her head to the side, clicking once. He sighed and rubbed his face, sitting on the floor with her and trying to figure out how to explain.

"Tauriel home. Humans hurt Tauriel," she pulled back her lips, showing her bared teeth at that. She knew what "hurt" meant, she had learned it when the sun had dried and cracked her skin, burning her.

"You need to stay away for your own good," he tried again, and it seemed she was beginning to understand, even if she didn't understand the words she understood his tone, and she hissed, snapping her teeth.

"I want to see you too, but people keep seeing you. You can't let yourself be seen, unless it's me or Fili. If you don't see the blanket, it isn't safe," Kili touched the blanket for emphasis, and she touched the fabric, running it through her fingers.

"Safe," she repeated, looking at the blanket, "Kili safe."

"Yes, I'm safe, and that blanket is safe. If you don't see the blanket, you aren't safe," he explained, before thinking of another way of explaining.

"Human see Tauriel, human hurt Tauriel. Kili see Tauriel, Tauriel safe." It had been Fili's idea to teach her the word 'see,' and it had involved more demonstrations. Luckily she had a better understanding of what 'see' was than what 'boy' or 'girl' was, it's easier to grasp 'see' when someone covers their eyes and then opens them. She had picked up the concept quickly.

"Tauriel hurt human," she replied with a snarl, and Kili could see her tail moving the blanket, flicking back and forth. Kili shook his head.

"Tauriel go home. Tauriel home safe. You need to be somewhere safe," she flared her nostrils and pouted, or at least it resembled a pout. 'Go home' was what Kili and Fili said when they left, and she didn't like the thought of leaving.

"Tauriel come back?" she asked after a moment, surprising him. He hadn't realized she had figured out what he promised her whenever he left, but it made him smile and nod.

"Eventually, I would like for you to come back. I'd want to see you again," he replied and she relaxed with his smile and lifted mood. She clicked at him, rolling onto her side under the blanket, and he obliged her request, relaxing next to her. She took his hand, inspecting it, always fascinated by his human body. He left her move his hand and arm around, flexing his muscles occasionally. She felt how the muscles moved under the skin, extending her own arm and doing the same to compare. But what intrigued her the most was the hair on his arm, as her own was smooth. She couldn't seem to understand why humans had so much more hair than her, and had spent hours touching his face, arms, and legs, marveling at it.

He felt himself relax, listening as she made soft noises to herself, as though making notes out loud to herself. Maybe that's what she was doing, making observations to herself as she tried to understand the purpose of body hair.

"The sun is almost set," he said more to himself, noting how dark it had grown in their comfortable silence. He had also noticed that she was starting to glow, like she had at the bottom of the ocean, pinpricks of light illuminating her skin.

"Hey, Tauriel," he said, getting her attention and pointing up at the sky, "you haven't seen the night sky yet, have you?" She looked up at the sky, confused about what he was pointing at. A brief streak made her jerk up in startled confusion.

"What?" she demanded, not understanding what she had seen or where it had gone. Kili chuckled.

"Shooting star," she looked at him, not understanding and obviously dissatisfied with that answer. But now the sky had her attention, not his hand, so he sat up next to her, looking up at the sky as the sun dipped below the horizon. She was silent for a long time, just watching the night sky in wonder.

"What?" she asked, pointing to the large light in the sky that didn't burn her like the sun.

"Moon. That's the moon," Kili explained, smiling to himself as he looked at her face.

"Moon," she repeated to herself. Then she pointed to another point in the sky.

"What?"

"Star."

"What?" she asked again, pointing to another dot in the sky.

"Star," she looked at him in confusion.

"Stars. They are all stars. Well there are a couple planets, but I don't know where," he said, gesturing to the multitude of lights that were slowly becoming visible.

"Stars," she repeated, making the same gesture as him by panning her hand across the sky before she lowered her hand, studying her own skin.

"Stars," she said again, looking at the points of light that dappled her entire body. She looked at Kili for confirmation and he smiled at her.

"There are stars on your skin," he replied, and she smiled back at him. Kili leaned back down, relaxing on the deck of the boat. She looked down at him for a moment before she mimed the motion, lying down next to him. Her tail curled around his feet, still under the blanket, forming a 'J' with her body around him.

"Here," he said, making her lift up her head so he could extend his arm, hoping that would make things a bit more comfortable for her. He didn't mind her wet hair on him, or being on the wet blanket, he was perfectly content to remain where he was with her pressed lightly against him, watching the stars with him.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Or

Do You Wanna Catch A Mermaid?

When Kili returned from a stint at sea, he was pleased to hear the number of sightings of the mysterious red sea monster had dropped. He took that as a sign that she was being more careful, and it seemed that interest in the creature was finally dying out. He did not see any reporters or any of the scientists during his few days on shore, and he was grateful for that.

The first day after he had gotten back, Tauriel was nowhere to be found. He was both glad she was staying away, but also sad that she wasn't around. The next day was the same, but the third day proved better. Fili claimed he was what had brought them luck, as he had joined his brother on the third trip out to find her.

Tauriel was happy to see them, and presented them with gifts as she always did: an odd lump of something completely covered in barnacles and other sea materials for Kili, and a smooth rock with markings scratched into it for Fili. When they cleaned off the lump later that night they found an old pocket watch, no doubt washed overboard or from a wreck.

This time they had a surprise for her though, and she was delighted to see things from their world. For hours they were entertained by throwing a Frisbee out over the water, Tauriel chasing and leaping from the waves to catch it with either her mouth or her hands, and when they tired of that they flew a kite. Based on the excited chirps from Tauriel they decided that she was enjoying herself immensely. As night fell they showed her one last thing before they headed back home: a candle. She didn't squeak or flick her tail in excitement, instead she grew still, staring at the flame once they had lit the wick. She was fascinated, studying it, reaching for it carefully to feel the heat, but avoided touching it. With clouds overhead, there weren't any stars to see, so she was content to watch the flame dance as the candle slowly burned down. Kili and Fili entertained themselves by studying her in turn, particularly the dots of light that were easier to see in the darkness of night. When the candle had burned itself out they bid her farewell and returned to shore.

"I wonder if it can be repaired," Kili mused to himself a few days later, looking at the watch Tauriel had given him. Fili, in turn, had some of the rocks that Tauriel had given to them and was studying them. Dolly knew them well enough to not ask about why they had so much random stuff out on the table they were eating at, but she still raised an eyebrow when she brought them their food.

"Take it to a shop and see, maybe a pawn shop or a jeweler could do it? Have you noticed the scratches on these rocks?" Fili asked, comparing two rocks in his hands. Kili pocketed the watch for later, looking at Fili's hand.

"Yeah, what about them?"

"Is she etching into the rocks? They look like letters or something," Fili pondered, indicating to the two in his hand, "notice how some of the markings are the same?"

"I hadn't until just now," Kili admitted, now looking closely at the rocks Fili and brought along. He had looked at all of them before, but never compared them to one another. Seeing them side by side, he did notice repetitions in the markings.

"A written language?" Kili asked, not that his brother would be able to answer.

"'Lil Durinsons!" the booming voice startled them out of their conversation, and they looked up to see Greg Radake beaming down at them.

"Hey, Radake, heard you've been doing well this season," Fili greeted the older fisher, wondering what had brought him over to their table but offered him a seat.

"I was, but now my little helper is gone!" he explained, taking the seat next to Kili.

"Your… little helper? You had a greenhorn on board?" Kili asked, not remembering hearing that. He knew a few of the captains had taken on new crewmen this season, but didn't realize Radake had one as well. Radake shook his head and nudged Kili.

"Not after last season, I mean your mermaid!" Kili paled and Fili glanced between them quickly, nervous.

"Mermaid?" Kili managed to ask, trying to think of when someone might have seen him and Tauriel together. Had he been followed and not noticed it somehow? Had someone taken a joy ride in a plane and flown over and seen them?

"That human barracuda you told me about. At first I thought it was going after my fish, but then I realized the thing was herding the fish closer to me! Like those dolphins around Mexico or somewhere down there," Radake explained, nudging Kili again with a grin.

"Did you ever find that mermaid after I pointed to that old map?" he asked when Kili did not immediately respond.

"Ah, no, I didn't actually," Kili finally recovered enough to speak and Radake laughed, thumping him on the back.

"Guess the red devil took a shine to me! Wonder where that big eel got off too. I thought for sure you knew where it was, what with those brats claiming the mermaid that saved them had said your name or something darn close," the veteran fisher wondered out loud and Kili glanced at Fili before looking back at the older man.

"Did they hear her say my name?" he remembered overhearing them talking, but he thought he heard them not remember what she had said properly.

"I heard 'em talking and dropped your name, they said it sounded right," Kili's stomach tightened.

"Well they were also stupid enough to be caught out on the ocean in a speed boat before a storm, they probably got banged up and don't have the sharpest memories anymore," Kili pointed out, trying to figure a way out of this mess. Lucky for him, Collin and Bran walked over. Kili was happy to see them together again, the past few months had been awkward but whatever was going on between them had slowly been worked out.

"'Sup?" Bran said with a wide grin.

"I'll leave you youngsters to your shenanigans," Radake said, standing up and moving so that the two younger men could sit down.

"Alright, old man, don't bust a hip!" Fili retorted, to which the older man gave a hearty chuckle and a final wave.

"You collect rocks now?" Collin asked once the four were seated and settled. Kili and Fili looked down at the rocks, forgetting that they had them out on the table still.

"Something like that," Kili replied while Fili shoved them back into his bag. Bran gave them a perplexed look and Collin simply shrugged it off.

"I see you've taken up a new hair style," Bran commented, touching the braids in Kili's hair.

"Well if the Vikings wore braids, so can I," Kili said in defense, Fili snorting a laugh into his hand before he changed the conversation.

"Haven't seen you guys in a while, you've been working other ships?" Fili asked and the two nodded.

"Sally needed someone to replace their greenhorn from last season," Collin explained, and Bran gave a more pointed look to Kili.

"Got something to ask you, Fili you're invited too," he added with a glance to Fili, "do you want to go out again?"

"Out where?" Kili asked after a moment of not understanding.

"With the marine biologists, Dr. Yandell told me Dr. Mazziotta thought they might be getting more funding, which means they can finish repairs on the sub and go back out," Bran elaborated and Kili shook his head.

"No way. I'm not getting into one of those things again," Kili shook his head, not only did he not want to be in a submarine again, he also didn't want to be involved with trying to find Tauriel with them.

"Not even to try to find those things again? We'd be rich and famous if we brought back a live mermaid!" Bran tried to entice his friend, but Kili continued to shake his head.

"Well, when Collin and me are rich and famous we'll get you a car or something," Bran said with a shrug, respecting Kili's refusal.

"What about you, Fili? Want to catch a mermaid and be on national tv?" Collin asked. Fili, like his brother, shook his head.

"I'm okay earning a living here, not chasing sea creatures," Fili replied before moving the conversation in a different direction before Kili started shaking from nerves, "didn't something exciting happen on Sal's ship?"

"Oh shit!" Collin started with a laugh, "so first we get out there and turns out someone hadn't refueled the ship, so Sal was livid-" Collin recounted the tale of the last few weeks of his life, Kili giving his brother an appreciative glance. He tried to pay attention to his friends, but now he was second guessing himself. If he went out with them, he might be able to sabotage their efforts of finding Tauriel, or any other of her kind. But the thought of getting back into a submarine made him break out in a cold sweat. Whenever he thought about being in the submarine again, he just remembered the walls closing in, the banging and the pressure and the cold realization that he was going to die. Even though he had survived, he didn't think he could ever get into a vessel like that again.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Or

The Lady Of Light, The Witch Of The Sea

_"-and they had this strange bright object that they held on a string that floated in the air!"_ Legolas let out a puff of bubbles as Tauriel continued to tell him all about the great and amazing things she had seen on the surface. She ignored his obvious annoyance, hoping that something she told him about would get his interest.

He had come across her while she was closer to home, looking through the bones of ships long sunk for things to give to her humans. While he had initially been happy to see her, he was now growing bored of her talking about the humans. But, as a good friend, he let her be excited as she rummaged through the wreck, illuminated by their skin. He let her have her fun, knowing the news he brought would no doubt frustrate her.

_"Tauriel,"_ he finally cut in when she paused, his tone catching her attention.

_"What is it, Legolas?"_ she closed the chest she had managed to open, looking at him.

_"The kind has recalled you, and wishes for you to be in his presence the moment you return," _now it was her turn to blow out a stream of bubbles, ears going back and tail flicking in annoyance.

_"Have I done something wrong?"_ she bit back a snarl, she was angry but not at him, and did not want to threaten him.

_"He is not pleased with your excursions,"_ Legolas swished his tail, moving himself toward an exit.

_"They are not forbidden, I have broken no laws,"_ Tauriel followed but continued to protest.

_"Do not think my father will not pass a law to keep you from going,"_ Legolas slowed and looked back at her, _"but would even that stop you?"_

She looked away, but accelerated so that she was next to him. They did not speak for a time, silently swimming over the ocean floor, going deeper into the black depths.

_"Wait,"_ Tauriel paused as she thought, _"perhaps we should speak to another first. The King will not listen to me, but if another gave their permission and said it did no harm-"_

_"Whom would you seek out?"_ Legolas asked, watching her think.

_"The Lady of Light would know,"_ Tauriel suggested and Legolas clicked in surprise.

_"You would go to Lady Galadriel for a matter such as this?"_ he snapped his tail down, moving him forward again. She resumed swimming alongside him.

_"Time has passed, we may learn from them,"_ she tried to reason with him, but was cut short.

_"Do not conceal your selfish curiosity with improvised good intentions. If the king wishes to consult the Witch of the Sea, he will do so,"_ and with that they spoke no more, returning to silence as they made their way into the trenches.

Unfortunately for Tauriel, the king was as displeased as she had feared he would be. Despite her efforts to convince him that the contact with the humans was harmless, and may even be beneficial, King Thranduil was not interested.

_"The land walkers have nothing of value to us, only their careless destruction that poisons our waters. Those responsible for the toxic shockwaves still breathe among them, as foolish and arrogant as ever,"_ was the King's response to her, and she winced as his intensity.

_"They are fools because the do not know better, if we could teach them, make them understand the damage they are causing,"_ she tried again, not ready to back down from this.

_"They will not learn. They never have. They claim they want knowledge and then they allow themselves to be ruled by superstition and lust for violence. Their so-called 'knowledge' only contributes to their skill at destroying life,"_ Thranduil snarled, carefully moving his tail through the water. He was more than twice the length of Tauriel, a slap from the tip of his tail could easily incapacitate her. And yet she pressed on.

_"Were not merfolk and humans once friends?"_ she asked

_"They have changed, and in their stupidity tried to kill many of their own. Were it not for our benevolence, they would have succeeded,"_ her king huffed, his hard expression softening and his flicking tail eased into a more fluid and gentle motion. _"You are young and hopeful, and do not fully know what they have done. My wish is to protect our people, but if you willingly return to them, I can not protect you again."_

With that he dismissed her, motioning for her to leave his presence before she could speak again. She bowed in respect and departed, not looking at Legolas as she passed him. She also did not wait for him to speak with his father, knowing it would involve Thranduil telling his son to either keep her from going or not following her if she did. She had made up her mind, and headed along the trench to where the Lady of Light resided.

She saw the glow before she passed the final rock shelf, the Lady Galadriel aptly named for her brighter light than the rest. Tauriel hesitated, not sure if she should disturb the Lady and although she would never admit it, she was also intimidated. While Thranduil was more than twice her size, even the king was only a fraction of the length of Galadriel. She was longer than most sperm whales, dwarfing Tauriel by her sheer length. Tauriel jerked back when the Lady turned and looked up at Tauriel, beckoning for her to come down.

_"Tauriel, I have been waiting,"_ the song like voice echoed through Tauriel's head, and she complied to the beckoning hand. Galadriel raised her torso up to meet Tauriel, so long that the majority of her tail did not move as she twisted around to look closely at the smaller mermaid.

_"You think I am the answer to your dilemma,"_ it wasn't a question, and Tauriel nodded once before she dared speak.

_"What happened between us and the humans? Why is Thranduil so adamant about avoiding them?"_ Tauriel spoke up, trying to not get distracted by the flowing fabric around Galadriel. She wore a long and flowing gown, glowing white from her skin, although the gown wasn't longer than Tauriel.

_"Not one thing. They grew away from us, their love for the water turned to fear, and with it their view of us. Once called friends, they damned us monsters, and in time forgot we were even here. We passed into their legends and superstitions, until we became no more real to them than childhood dreams,"_ Galadriel said with a sadness in her voice, looking beyond Tauriel as though she could still see what once was. Although if what Tauriel had heard wasn't exaggerated, Galadriel could do just that.

_"So there is no hope for the humans?"_

_"There is always hope, but I can only reach so far. If you stray too far from us, I may not be able to guide you back. Come,"_ Galadriel gently touched Tauriel's arm and smiled at her, pale gold hair billowing around them. Tauriel followed where the Lady of Light led her, to listen and learn more.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Or

Growing Concerns

Unlike the last time Kili had returned from a session of fishing last a few weeks, this time he was disappointed to see, once again, cars he did not recognize parked around the docks. To his disgust, and fear, the gossip on shore was someone had put a bounty on Tauriel's head, anyone who could prove she was really out there would get a sizable reward, which doubled if a body was brought back. Tripled, if the sea creature was still alive. Luckily, the majority of the people who had come to hunt for sea monsters were not prepared to do so. There might be captains willing to take bounty hunters out on boats, but it seemed none of them were equipped well enough to do what the bounty hunters wanted. He overheard at least one group wanted a shark cage, thinking they could lure something inside instead of using it to keep large sea animals out. The fishers were disgruntled by the sudden increase in traffic, both on land and on sea, although some captains were able to make some money off the exuberant bounty hunters that chartered their boats.

What upset him the most, however, was when Kili was making his way back to where he had parked his car there was a woman sitting on the front, checking her phone before she noticed him approaching.

"Ah, Mr. Durinson! You never called me for-" the reporter Ms. Kraus began with a wide smile.

"What are you doing?" he cut her off, wondering how she had found him.

"Straight to business then!" she chirped, pulling out her recorder.

"Get off my car," he said with a sigh as she refused to take a hint that he had no desire to talk to her.

"What are your thoughts on the reward for proof that there is a sea monster?" Kili rolled his eyes and pointed back at the docks.

"Do you see that ship?" he pointed, and she glanced at the series of large boats docked in the harbor.

"I've been on it for the last three weeks and just got off. I've been on land for less than an hour, and all I want is some proper food and a shower," he said as he walked over to the door and threw his stuff inside.

"Let me treat you to dinner, then! We can have the interview there!" she tried again to no avail.

"No," he got into the car and slammed the door. She jumped of with an indignant squeak when he started up the car.

"You're missing your chance to be famous among my readers!" he didn't quite understand what she shouted at him as he drove away, but he wasn't interested to begin with.

He knew he would feel better if he saw Tauriel, but the radio and the sky told him there would be a nasty storm, so he would have to wait until tomorrow before he could safely venture out to see her. He and Fili had a quiet dinner at home, the increase in people made them want to avoid public dining, and Fili knew Kili would only get more anxious if he was around people who were out of capture Tauriel. Fili also didn't need to be told that tomorrow, provided the storm was over, they would be going out to see Tauriel. But as the storm hit and the driving rain pounded against their windows, the two brothers contented themselves to junk food and a movie marathon, forgetting about the outside world as best as they could.

"Balloons," Kili said as the second movie in their marathon ended.

"What?"

"I think Tauriel would like seeing balloons. Especially helium ones, so they float," Kili continued, grinning when Fili chuckled.

"She would definitely have fun playing with those," the blond brother said, trying to think of a store where they could get balloons in the morning. Kili nodded, going silent again and not saying anything more on the subject, and somewhere into the third movie of their marathon both brothers were snoring on the couch.

While they couldn't find any helium balloons super early in the morning, they were able to find a pack of balloons at the store, much to the confused look from the cashier who had not yet gotten used to the random items the brothers bought these days. They took the balloons and plenty of food out to the boat and headed out over the waves.

For the first hour they were out waiting for her they tried blowing up the balloons. Neither were very good at it, and there was a great deal of laughter when they would manage to blow one up but have no idea how to tie it. After numerous attempts they finally figured out how to tie the balloons, and soon the boat was filled with them. With no more balloons to blow up they resorted to looking out over the ocean and playing card games to pass the time.

By early afternoon clouds were forming in the far distance, and by mid afternoon the clouds were rolling toward them. The radio chatter involved another storm forming, and although Kili didn't want to, he knew they couldn't stay out in their small craft.

"We should go back," Fili said as they listened to the radio and watched the slowly growing storm.

"Yeah," Kili replied, but made no move to start the engine.

"She'll be fine," Fili said again after several moments.

"Yeah," he repeated, scanning the waves.

"You'll see her soon," Fili prompted again.

"Yeah," Fili rolled his eyes.

"Do I need to turn on the engine for you?"

Kili's response was to turn on the engine, looking one last time around them but saw no sign of Tauriel. Fili hauled the colorful blanket they used to attract her back onto the boat and wondered what they were going to do with all the balloons now bouncing around the floor. The brothers ended up hiding all the balloons in their uncle's largest boat, in his quarters, giggling to themselves as they snuck off and headed for shelter as the storm approached when their prank was completed.

While Kili tried to keep in good spirits, his brother noticed he ate less than he normally did, but hoped that they would have better luck seeing Tauriel in the few days they had back on shore. They settled down for another night of junk food and movies, as their friends were on different ships and would be back at different times, and listened to the rain and thunder as another storm hit the town. Fili didn't say anything, but he could tell Kili was nervous by the way he kept bouncing his foot and twitching his fingers, unable to keep still as they watched movies and threw popcorn at each other. Fili fell asleep before Kili that night, Kili getting into a habit of checking his phone and the clock, counting down until the storm passed and he could try to find her again.

By 4 in the morning he was passed out from exhaustion.

Sometime after 6 in the morning he got a text, which also woke up Fili.

"Uncle?" Fili mumbled when he heard the phone buzz, wondering if their uncle had discovered the four dozen balloons in his cabin onboard. Kili rubbed his eyes and shook his head.

"Looks like Bran is back from his stint. I've been thinking," Kili said as he stretched and looked at his brother, not opening the text message yet.

"Maybe we should introduce Tauriel to Bran and Collin," Kili suggested and Fili smirked, rolling to the side and stretching off the couch.

"What, you don't like Bran calling Tauriel an evil monster?" Fili joked, getting a pillow in the face.

"You know how he can be with grudges and not liking people. I don't think he'd be able to hate mermaids if he actually met one. I mean, we probably did trespass in their territory, it makes sense that they'd attack us, the submarine probably looked like a monster to them," Kili explained and Fili nodded, getting up off the couch.

"Well invite him out today, and Collin if they were on the same boat this time around," Fili suggested as he walked to the bathroom. Kili opened the phone to read what Bran had sent and send the invitation.

"You in town?" was what the message read.

"Yea got back a few days ago, Fili and I are going to go boating later, want to come?" Kili replied, getting up and getting something to drink.

"Sure but come down to the docks we have a surprise"

"We?"

"Collin and me"

"Whats the surprise?"

"Come and see"

Kili shrugged and changed his clothes, telling his brother to get dressed and what Bran had texted him.

Fili drove them into town; the sun was still low in the sky in the early morning. Fili speculated that they had caught some rare crab, which happens every so often while out for a crabbing season. Kili, having only gotten a few hours of sleep, was less interested in using his brain to speculate, and was regretting not at least getting some coffee first. But as they arrived at the harbor Kili didn't need any coffee to wake up.

"Kili-? Shit! Kili stop!" Fili shouted as his brother swore and jumped out of the truck while it was still moving. Fili hastily pulled over to the side, although not an official parking spot but they knew the law enforcement and could explain later, and ran after his brother.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Or

Tauriel And Kili Have A Bad Day

Kili could hear his brother shouting for him but his attention was on the crowd of people on the docks and the cargo that was being unloaded from a ship. Tangled in a net was a long fish, about twelve to fifteen feet with dark green scales and a mass of red hair. The mass of net and thrashing fins was unceremoniously dropped onto the dock, the people responsible stood around in a loose circle, trying to decide what to do next. Dr. Mazziotta and Dr. Yandell were in a discussion, whereas the others of the group were more excited about getting pictures and talking to the crowd that was gathering, including the troublesome Ms. Kraus.

"Please stay back!" Dr. Yandell warned the curious people who tried to get too close. Even trapped in a net, the creature continued to thrash and hiss, trying to attack anyone who got too close with its long tail. Bran smiled widely when he saw Kili shoving his way through the crowd.

"Eyyy Kili! Surprised are-"

"What have you done!?" Kili screamed at the startled Bran who took a step back.

"What? It's just one of those things that captured us, serves it right!" Bran argued and gave the fish a smack with the harpoon he was holding in a sort of victory pose. It snarled at the further insult, grabbing it and wrenching it from Bran's grip, which was easy to do as Kili had punched Bran right in the face.

" 'It' has a name!"

"The fuck, Kili?"

"What?" Collin chimed in to the chaos, wondering why Kili had just punched Bran in the face, while Fili came in with a, "Is she alright?" and the mermaid cast a glance up at the humans, recognizing the brothers. This did not stop her from her task of cutting the ropes with her teeth and the harpoon she had just acquired.

"Mr. Durinson!" Dr. Yandell exclaimed before yelping when Bran returned the punch Kili had given him. What Bran hadn't expected was a clawed hand with webbed fingers grabbing his ankle and yanking him to the ground.

"Hurt," her mouth was open, pointed teeth, and Bran became aware that she had cut her bonds and was gripping the harpoon he had used against her. She snapped her tail, slamming his chest and causing a series of loud cracks, before he could react. He watched her spin the harpoon, the deft twitch of her fingers made him realize she knew exactly what she was doing a moment before he felt the blade cut his throat.

"Tauriel no!" Bran remained perfectly still, staring at Kili who had grabbed the harpoon and the mermaid's arm. He swallowed, feeling the blood trickle down his neck, and watched as the creature looked up at Kili.

"Hurt," Kili nodded once as he pulled the harpoon form her hand, her grip loosened.

"I know they hurt you, they didn't know," she pulled back her lips and bared her teeth.

"Hurt Kili," she hissed, eyes darting between Kili and his brother as her expression softened.

"I'm fine, Tauriel, no hurt. Let's get you safe," Kili whispered, extending his hand. She took his hand but pinned her ears back into her hair as she looked around. Kili glanced at the others standing around, the crowd with their phones out, the whispers, and those that were armed with weapons pointed at her. Lastly he looked at the team of scientists, led by the two doctors, who were staring in horror or fascination and taking notes.

"I'll help," Fili said, knowing a creature over twelve feet long and made of muscle would be too heavy for Kili to lift all on his own. She looked at Fili and clicked, but did not protest when he and Kili picked her up, Kili holding her torso and Fili her tail. She wrapped her arms around Kili, trusting them.

"You know her?"

"It spoke!"

"Is he alright on the ground?"

"It's dangerous! It tried to kill Bran!"

"Mr. Durinson, my readers want to know, how long have you been in contact with a mermaid?"

"You can't take it back to the ocean!"

The sudden barrage of speaking startled the two brothers as the crowd snapped out of their shocked silence. Fili murmured reassurances to Tauriel, trying to calm her down when he felt her tense and start flicking her tail once more. Kili, on the other hand, fixed his glare on the scientists hurling questions at him.

"She's no more dangerous than you or I! You took her from her home and hurt her, of course she is going to retaliate and defend herself!" Kili spat back, holding her closer when he heard her growling deep in her chest.

"If you knew about the creature, why didn't you help?" Dr. Mazziotta questioned, standing in the way of the brothers and not letting them leave.

"Because you wanted to capture her and lock her up in some tank, or dissect her to study her!"

"Oh heavens no! The specimen is much more valuable to us alive and well in its nature habitat," Dr. Yandell chimed in and explained, "While yes, I admit, we did want to capture her, it was only to bring back hard evidence that such a species did exist. Our plan was to put a tracker on it so we could monitor its movements, learn about where it lived and hunted. A catch and release method. We certainly don't know enough about this species to try to keep one for research, it would be counter productive to dump it in a tank that it would quickly die in due to lack of knowledge on its living requirements!"

That didn't make Kili feel better, but at least he didn't have to worry about them shipping her off to some lab in pieces.

"You seem to know the most about it, your input would be greatly appreciated and would no doubt help ease its stress in this situation," Dr. Yandell continued with an encouraging smile, hoping to get Kili to work with them.

"For starters, her name is Tauriel. Now, Doctor, tell me what you know about her and I'll fill in the gaps," he snapped, shifting his arms so he could hold Tauriel more comfortably. She looked inquisitively from Kili to Dr. Yandell.

"Well, we know that… Tauriel most likely sees humans as potential food sources."

"What the fuck does that even mean?" Fili demanded when Kili was preoccupied staring at the Doctor in disgust.

"She tried to kill me twice now," Bran grumbled, leaning against Collin and clutching his stomach.

"You hit first, that was self defense!" Kili shot back but Bran rolled his eyes.

"Not when I was in the water, dumbass," Bran retorted, but Collin explained.

"Bran was bait, he was in the water on a line, when she grabbed him we reeled them in and got her in the net," at that Kili would have face palmed if he wasn't holding Tauriel.

"She thought you were drowning you idiot! She knows humans can't survive in water, she was trying to rescue you!"

"And that's how your knowledge could have helped us! Now, do you know how long she can be out of the water before she suffocates? What does she eat? Does she understand language or does she merely know how to mimic sounds?" Dr. Yandell interjected, making Kili look at the sky.

"Where were you going to take her after you unloaded her?" he asked, looking at the sun.

"We had a simple salt water tank prepared to hold her until we could put the tracker on her."

"We should get her there now. Is there a tarp, something to shade the area?"

"Ah this way," Dr. Yandell gestured, managing to part the crowd. Tauriel clicked in a quick series, indicating distress when she realized Kili and Fili were walking away from the ocean.

"We'll get you back to the ocean soon, I promise," Kili whispered to her, ignoring the pain as she began to nervously knead his flesh with her claws.

"We do not have a tarp or something to provide shade, do we need to?" Dr. Mozziotta answered when Dr. Yandell did not.

"Direct sunlight hurts her, it makes her skin crack and peel. It's best that she stays in the shade, or at least deep in the water," Fili explained, rubbing Tauriel's tail and trying to keep her fins and spines from rising in defense.

"Fascinating! We'll find something to protect her from the sun," Dr. Yandell said, jotting down a note and waving at two of the underlings who had accompanied the two doctors. Kili refused to say more, too angry to want to help them any more than he had to in order to keep Tauriel safe. Luckily for his and Fili's arms, the tank was no more than a few minute walk from the dock. It was a simple above ground pool but it would do in an emergency as Kili watched Tauriel's skin dry and crack before his eyes.

When Fili and Kili placed her in the water she immediately took off in a tight circle, analyzing the situation and hissing. Fili glanced at the crowd that was still following them and trying to ask them questions and get pictures, but Kili was watching Tauriel thrash angrily in the water. She continued to swim in a tight loop until people pulling a tarp over half of the tank distracted her. With darkness now provided she darted into it, curling up as far in the shadows as she could.

"She's really pissed," Fili pointed out to Kili when Kili pulled his shirt off.

"I know," Kili replied, ignoring the questions from the others about why he was taking his clothes off.

"You don't think she'll hurt you?" Fili asked as his brother removed his shoes and socks.

"Oh, she probably will," Kili muttered and hoisted himself over the pool wall and into the water.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Dr. Yandell muttered to Fili, scribbling everything into a notebook. Fili shrugged.

"He's done it before, and she's never hurt him on purpose," Fili replied before glancing at Collin and Bran standing at a distance. Fili gulped when he saw Bran's face, he was pale and sweating, clutching his stomach tight. Fili gave one last look at his brother and the mermaid before he walked over to Bran to make sure he got medical attention for the broken ribs he probably had.

Tauriel didn't move when Kili entered the water, continuing to growl and hiss as he waded over to her. From the light of her skin he could see her teeth were bared. The spines on her fins were flared and her tail flicked rapidly back and forth, ready to strike any who got to close, but he could see she was also gripping herself tight in fear. As he drew closer she pushed back into the wall behind her, sinking below the surface to glare at him through the water. He took a deep breath and went under the water to go to her level. She blew a puff of bubbles, her body pressed against the wall of the pool. Kili extended his hand to her, hoping she would realize he meant no harm, and was happy when she took it. Until she slammed him against the wall of the pool with one hand gripping his throat and the other drawn back, ready to strike.

Kili choked as she strangled him but tried to control himself to not hit back and further antagonize her. She held him like that for what felt like a lifetime, until her grip on his neck softened and he was allowed to stick his head above water for air. He coughed and sputtered, spitting out the water he had swallowed and ignoring the shouts from those outside the pool who had heard his body slam into the wall.

"I know you're upset, and I know you're scared," Kili managed to say to the mermaid who had brought her head out of the water with him, her hand still on his neck.

"Humans hurt. Tauriel go home," she hissed, her hand on his neck loosening and slipping down to his shoulder.

"Hurt. Home. Home," she repeated, blinking rapidly before she buried her face in the crook of his neck, shaking and speaking in clicks and sounds he did not understand the meaning of.

"Tauriel go home soon, you won't have to stay here forever," Kili murmured to her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight as deep sobs wracked her body and her claws dug into his flesh as she clung to him desperately. Her clicks of what was a coherent language to her became cries of pain and fear that Kili needed no translation for.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Or

You Can Not Return

"We're rich and famous, why do you look like your mum just died?" Jasper flicked his friend Felix on the head, breaking his friend out of his trance. Leo, the blonde one, glanced between them, also distracted from his thoughts.

"I dunno I just feel… bad. Like, that was kinda douchey of us," Felix mumbled, looking out the window of the ship to look at the water.

"It was douchey of those docs to lie to us!" Jasper rolled his eyes, still upset that the marine biologists had decided to return the creature to the ocean instead of keeping it. They could have made money by showing it off to the world, a lot more money than they would with just a tracker.

"Dude, she saved us, and we gave them money to capture her so we could become famous. You saw how scared she was," Leo spoke up and glared at his dark friend. Jasper grumbled but looked away, not sure how to respond to that. But the way he had said it did make Jasper uncomfortable.

"What do you think he'll do?" Felix nodded toward the figure on the ship deck. The other two looked, seeing the dark haired man that was familiar with the mermaid. He hadn't moved from the spot since they had released her back into the water, he hadn't even changed out of his bloody clothes. None of them had spoken to him, he had ignored them and they were not about to approach him, but they were curious about him. They had learned his name was Kili, the one the mermaid had said when she was helping them escape the storm.

"Whatever it is, it's too late now. She probably won't come up to the surface after what happened," Jasper said, looking away from the man on the deck. Looking at him made Jasper's stomach clench in guilt.

"She doesn't have to, not with the tracker in her now. They'll be able to find her whenever they want," Leo muttered, tasting a bitterness in his mouth from what he had done.

"I don't think they put a datalogger on her though, all the data should be sent to them remotely. They shouldn't need to retrieve her," Felix pointed out, knowing more about marine tracking than the other two simply because he paid more attention to the doctors' conversations. A datalogger required recapture to gain the information stored in the device, a transmitter on the other hand would send data until it died.

"They might not need to, but people will want to find her," Leo shifted uncomfortably, looking at his hands in his lap.

"She won't fall for the same trick again, she's too smart to be caught a second time."

"You think?" Jasper looked at Felix as he asked his question.

"You heard her, she can talk and understand us. If that's not a sign of intelligence I don't know what is," Felix continued to remain optimistic and have faith in the mermaid, for her sake.

"I just remember her crying," Leo's words made the other two go silent. The sound she had made when she was crying in the tank was not one any of them would forget.

Out on the deck Kili was remembering the same sound and blaming himself for what had happened. He desperately wished he could see her again, try to explain himself and apologize and make her understand how sorry he was for the pain he had caused her. But as much as he wanted to see her again he hoped that she would dive down to the bottom of the ocean and never return. She would be safe there. He sighed, shifting his weight and glancing down at his arms. They were clawed open, and the pain on his chest and back indicated that she had also torn his skin there as well. But the bleeding was minimal thanks to her licking the wounds she had inflicted. Whatever was in her saliva had sealed in the slashes, preventing them from bleeding more. But he had not mentioned that part to the scientists, they were already having a heyday over the blood sample they had taken from her. Her blood was clear, and while that didn't mean much to Kili it was blowing the minds of everyone with a Dr. in front of their last name.

He sighed, trying to put the thoughts from his mind as he watched the water. She hadn't even looked back when she was released. Not that she had any reason to, but he had hoped she would at least give him one last look.

Bran and Collin had not accompanied the crew back out to release the mermaid, and Fili was sitting in the waiting room with Collin while Bran was under a surgeon's blade. Fili sat with his chin resting on his clasped hands, watching Collin pace back and forth.

"Those stupid mermaids are nothing but trouble," Collin muttered, wringing his hands as he walked the same line again.

"She was defending herself. Plus she's like twelve feet of pure muscle, of course getting smacked is going to hurt," Fili defended her in a calm voice, knowing it wasn't what Collin wanted to hear.

"Bran is in a fucking operating room! She tried to kill him!" Collin shouted, gesturing to the door that led to where their friend was.

"You took her from her home and hurt her, did you really think she wouldn't fight back?" Fili tried to keep his voice level, knowing that shouting would not help the situation.

"Why are you defending her?" Collin demanded, spinning around from his pacing and glaring at Fili.

"Because you would have done the same thing in her situation!" Fili's voice rose as he bit back his anger and fear. He hated this, Bran was stupid but he didn't deserve to be in an operating room to save his life, but he couldn't fault Tauriel for defending herself.

"What? No I wouldn't have!"

"Oh really? Then tell me what you did, what you felt, when you captured by them," Fili managed to return to a calmer voice, trying to think of a way to make Collin understand. If he could get Collin to calm down and think about it, maybe he could use the same strategy on Bran later on. He did not want this to become a permanent rift between Kili and Bran, and it needed to be dealt with immediately.

"I… I was scared. I thought I was going to die. I didn't want to die, and I was willing to do whatever it took to escape," Collin admitted, glancing away and holding himself as he remembered how terrified and desperate he was.

"Then you have already felt what she did, you should understand what she went through."

"It's… different," Collin muttered, not looking at Fili. He knew Fili was right, but he wasn't comfortable admitting it.

"How? You went into their world and were captured. She came into our world and was captured."

"I…" Collin sat down in defeat, "I didn't think about it that way."

"She could have killed Bran right then and there, with the harpoon," Collin said after several moments of silent thought.

"But she didn't, because Kili asked her not to. If it had been you and Bran down there, and you had the chance to kill one of the ones who had captured you, would you have stopped if Bran asked you to?" Fili replied, looking at Collin critically.

"I don't know," Collin mumbled, still not able to look up at Fili.

"Bran will be fine, the doctors know how to fix up broken ribs and internal bleeding," Fili said, touching Collin's shoulder to physically reassure him. Collin managed to turn his head but still did not look at Fili, instead looking toward the door and praying Bran would be alright.

Under the waves Tauriel was relieved to finally see a friendly face after diving straight down into the water, the depth giving her solace. Her moment of happiness shriveled in fear when she made out the larger form accompanied by a guard.

_"Highness-"_ before she could explain or address her friend Thranduil snarled and whipped his tail at her. She knew if he wanted to hit her he would have, but she still darted away to dodge.

_"I warned you, and yet you did not heed my command,"_ the much larger merfolk snarled, and she recoiled, making herself smaller as she curled up in fear and submission.

_"My king-"_

_"You reek of them. Even now I can smell their touch on you, you carry something dangerous," _he continued and she looked away, guilty.

_"They… put something in me. I do not know how to reach it or remove it-"_ she saw the looks of disgust and fear on the others when she admitted to what had happened, but Thranduil drew closer to her.

_"And so you have come to endanger us all?"_ he said softly, anger and bitterness in his voice. She looked away, understanding what had to happen next.

_"I did not listen, and now I…"_

_"Cannot return. Be gone, and let your final act in service to me be to protect others from your fate,"_ despite the rage on his tongue in this close proximity she could see he was looking at her sadly. He had cared for her for her entire life, and in return she had disobeyed her king and risked endangering her kind by associating with humans. He did not wish to hear her speak again, and so turned away from her at those parting words.

_"Legolas,"_ she called out as the party drew away. He hesitated but did not look back at her. She knew it was foolish of her to think he would come with her, being near her would put him in danger, and he could not risk disobeying his father while in his presence.

And so she was left alone in the water, curled in a tight ball as she floated and tried to hold herself together. There had to be something she could do to fix this. Someone had to know how to help her.

Then, out of the darkness, she heard a gentle singing. When she looked up and through her hair she saw two lights coming her way, one brighter than the other, but both larger than her. She wasn't sure if she should run or stay, but the song calmed her down, making her feel safe once more.

_"I could not reach you, Tauriel. You went too far,"_ the soothing voice of the Lady Galadriel made Tauriel's heart ache and she looked away.

_"They took me out of the water. And now I can't come back,"_ Tauriel explained, although she knew Galadriel would have already known. Tauriel looked up when a glowing hand brushed her face, Galadriel offering her a sad smile.

_"I thought… I thought things could change,"_ Tauriel admitted, looking at the second large merfolk that had accompanied the Lady Galadriel when he scoffed. He was just as long as Galadriel, but he did not glow as brightly, his skin was more similar to Tauriels in that there were spots of light instead of the entire skin emitting light.

_"The race of men is a foolish and selfish one. Saving a few from drowning will not change the way they are, they think only of themselves and what they can gain from others," _Lord Elrond spoke, making Tauriel look down in shame and Galadriel look at him in what might have been disappointment. Whether she was disappointed in him or in humans Tauriel did not know.

_"You are not at fault for having hope, Tauriel. Come, we wish to know what happened, and I have a gift for you,"_ Galadriel bid, extending a hand to Tauriel's. Tauriel accepted the gesture and followed the two massive merfolk, feeling like a pilot fish among sharks. But she had faith that Lady Galadriel and Lord Elrond could help heal her injuries, as well as her spirit, and she was not about to turn down friendly company.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Or

Mermaids Are Better Than People

Fili had a plan, or at least a vague maybe a third of a plan sort of plan. He only had the end goal and the first few steps figured out. Step One: Fili, Kili, Collin, and Bran all work on the same boat for a stint. Step Two: Kili and Bran actually talk and work things out. The plan ends with the awkwardness going away and everyone being friends again.

So far it hadn't worked. It had taken weeks just to get them all on a boat together, although part of that was because Bran took a session off considering he had been in surgery and had a lot of broken ribs and internal bleeding. Kili had come in and seen how Bran was doing when he was still in the hospital, but he hadn't gone in to actually talk to Bran himself. He was still too angry to look at his old friend, and he continued to give Collin the cold shoulder. Fili knew it didn't help that Tauriel had not come to see Kili since her release. She had no reason too, and both Fili and Kili were glad she was staying away, but they missed her.

But the plan was finally in motion, although it was two weeks into the four of them all working on the same boat and Kili and Bran had somehow managed to not speak to each other. Which by all rights was impressive, there was only so much space on a crabbing boat and they were all on deck working at the same time, but it was getting on Fili's and Collin's nerves.

Collin insisted that Bran was willing to listen to reason, but whenever Fili brought up the topic of what had happened Bran got defensive and paranoid. But he did seem guilty, so at least that was a step in the right direction. And Collin had promised Fili that he had talked with Bran, Bran just wasn't ready to own up to what he had done and admit it yet. Frustrating, but Bran was like that, and he always came around eventually.

Now if only Fili could get Kili to consider talking to Bran and forgive him.

That task seemed more difficult than getting Bran to admit he was wrong, and Fili wasn't sure how to approach it. It was like Kili knew whenever Fili was about to bring up Bran and Collin in conversation and he would always manage to either leave the conversation or change the topic before it could even happen.

The whole thing just made Fili want to hit his head against a wall for an hour, it would probably be less painful than dealing with the tension between all the friends whenever they were near each other. Which, when they are all working on the same boat, was most hours of the day. The miserable weather and lack of crab only made things worse, and everyone was grumpy with everyone else.

These thoughts were pushed back in Fili's mind, as he needed to keep his attention on his work in the dangerous environment. The sea was not being kind to them, and the sky was just as angry with them, and there were multiple times the waves had crashed over the deck and knocked him down. It was exhausting work and he would be happy when they finished this string of pots so they would be able to go inside where they would at least be sheltered from the elements. After one such wave swept over the deck and he had to hold onto the equipment to stay upright, and as he reoriented himself he heard the words no sailor wanted to hear:

"Man overboard!"

Fili looked up in panic, doing a quick head count to see who was still on board as he rushed to the side of the boat to look into the water. Only one was missing from the deck, but he couldn't see anyone in the water.

"Where is he? I don't see him!" Kili shouted over the sound of the water, already holding onto a life preserver to throw into the water when he had a target.

"There! I think that's his head and arms!" Collin pointed and Fili saw Bran disappear under a wave, his stomach clenching in fear.

Bran hadn't even realized he was in the water until he was under the waves, he had been soaked on deck and there was so much water on the ship he was shocked to find the floor no longer under him. The layers of clothing meant to keep him warm while he worked pulled him down, making him heavy and struggling to swim back to the surface. He managed to get his head above water to take in a breath of air and wave to be noticed by the other deckhands, but before he could shout another wave rolled over him.

Panic set in as the water churned, pushing and pulling him like a rag doll, and everything was so dark he couldn't tell which way was up. He tried to swim toward the light from the ship, but it looked wrong, it was too small, and moving in the wrong direction. His eyes widened in fear and he let out a scream, wasting precious air as he flailed and tried to swim away as he recognized the shape approaching him. The shape, in turn had recognized him and darted toward him.

She looked at him critically for a moment, teeth revealed in anger and indecision before she made up her mind. His mindless thrashing did him no good; she wrapped her arms around him, a hand covering his mouth and nose, and she pulled him down into the water.

"Oh God where is he?!" Collin was screaming in panic, about to jump into the water himself even though it would do no good. Kili grabbed him and pulled him back, latching onto secured equipment as the boat pitched sharply, Kili's quick reaction keeping Collin from being washed over like Bran as water rushed past them.

"We have to go back! We can't leave him!" Collin continued to shout once the water was out of his mouth and the boat rocked back to a more level position, shoving Kili away and looking back over the side of the boat to look for Bran. Kili, like the others, was spitting sea water out of his mouth and in a near frantic panic for his friend, but unlike the others he noticed a light on the deck that had not been there before.

"Tauriel?" he whispered, not that anyone could hear him over the shouting and roaring waves. In her arms was Bran, coughing up seawater, and she looked up at Kili, flicking her tail. She had used the violent rocking of the boat and the waves to launch herself and Bran onto the deck.

"Bran!" Fili noticed what had distracted Kili, his shout heard by the others who looked and rushed toward Bran. Tauriel did not stick around, immediately jumping toward a ledge and diving back into the waves, not eager to be around humans. Kili looked over the railing for her but she had disappeared, going deeper under the water where it was safer. Feeling something between relief and sadness Kili looked back to his friend and rushed over to help the others get Bran inside.

"That was it, wasn't it?" Bran muttered, catching Kili's attention. Kili looked up from where he was sitting at the table in the kitchen, lost in thought.

"You're up already? You should be resting," Kili didn't answer, feeling odd. This was the first time they had spoken in weeks.

"Hungry. But that was it, wasn't it? The thing that pulled me out of the water. Taurus?" Bran asked again, rummaging through the kitchen supplies to find something warm to eat.

"Tauriel," Kili replied with a chuckle after a moment of thought.

"Whatever, it's a weird mermaid name," Bran grumbled, helping himself to some of the coffee Kili had made for himself as he decided whether or not he wanted to bother making food or not.

"Our names are probably weird to her," Kili said nothing about Bran taking some coffee, not sure if this meant they were okay now or not. He still was angry with Bran for hurting Tauriel, and Bran had yet to apologize.

"So. Uhh," Bran scratched the back of his neck and sat down across from Kili, looking everywhere but where Kili was.

"Can… can I meet it?" Kili stared at him in shock for a moment.

"You want to meet her?" Bran glanced at Kili before taking a drink from his mug of coffee.

"Well… I mean… yeah. It- I mean… She. She saved my life, I guess? I thought she was going to drown me, I know I would have…" Bran stumbled over his words and Kili could tell the redness in his face was in part from embarrassment.

"I… I'll let you know when I'm going out to look for her again," Kili offered, not sure how to feel. On the one hand, Bran hadn't apologized or admitted he had done something wrong, but he at least now saw that Tauriel was not a bloodthirsty monster out to kill him. But he also was worried about Tauriel, how would she react if he brought someone who had hurt her? Would she decide she couldn't trust him anymore, or would she react more violently and actually hurt one of them for what they had done to her? And in a very selfish part of himself, he also was not sure he wanted to share. Showing her to Fili was one thing, but he was uncomfortable with the idea of so many people learning where and how to find her. But when Bran wasn't being a grumpy idiot he was very good at keeping secrets and protecting his friends.

"Great! That's… great!" Bran managed to say, his voice shaking from nerves. He seemed to be having some worries and doubts of his own. But when Kili looked up at him they managed an awkward smile at each other. They weren't sure where it would go from there, but at least they were talking to each other again.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Or

Forgiveness Tastes Like Raw Fish

"How long does this normally take?" Bran moaned in the same tone a child asks 'are we there yet?'

"Sometimes a few minutes, sometimes she doesn't show up." Fili explained while studying his next move in a round of checkers with Kili. They were on to their third game, Bran had decided he was bored of games a while back.

"Seriously? Sometimes she isn't even here?" Bran groaned, flopping dramatically over a seat, wishing he had brought a book or something.

"Why do you think we have so much food and games to play?" Kili asked with a laugh, nodding his head toward the stash of games and food that the two brothers now kept the boat stocked with.

"You said it might take a while but I didn't think it'd take this long!" Bran continued to complain, if only because he was so bored he couldn't think of anything else to do.

"Whiny. It's only been a few hours." Kili chuckled and teased, watching Fili's next move. Fili smiled, glad the two were getting along again.

"Ugggggh this is taking foreeeever!" Bran seemed to turn his whining into a game, getting more whiny and high pitched as he talked and started to flop and roll on Kili.

"Kili I'm boooooooored!" Bran whined, trying to conceal a chuckle as Kili tried to shove Bran off his lap.

"Then go for a swim or something! Or you can take over this game and I'll go for a swim!" Kili's shoving got Bran onto the deck floor, but Bran just crawled up his leg.

"How will you going for a swim make me less bored?" Bran complained with all the complaining he had in him, trying to hide his grin. At least he had a way to entertain himself now.

"It won't but I'll be able to get away from you, if I'm lucky I'll be able to drown myself and I won't hear you whining anymore!" Kili declared with a laugh, standing up and letting Bran flop back onto the floor.

"Actually maybe we should go for a swim, Tauriel might be staying away until she knows for sure who is on the boat." Fili suggested and was not surprised when Kili immediately removed his shirt at the suggestion.

"Whoa wait like, actually get into the water? We could freeze to death before she gets here!" Bran's playfulness was gone as he sat up and looked at Kili as he undressed.

"Guess you guys will just have to warm me up," Kili teased, striping completely naked and chuckling at Bran's shouts of horror.

"DUDE I did not need to see that! I know we've shared bunks on boats but dude!" Bran shouted and covered his eyes, Kili laughing and shaking his naked butt for a moment before jumping into the water.

"You're gonna get hypothermia!" Bran shouted after the naked butt was out of his face and in the frigid water. Fili chuckled and waved Bran over to the checker board.

"He's gotten use to the water temperature. He'll probably onto stay in the water for a few minutes." Fili tried to reassure his friend, but Bran stayed fixated on Kili treading water in the ocean. Fili sighed and decided this checker game wasn't going to be finished anytime soon, and stood with Bran to watch his brother.

Kili, meanwhile, was treading water and trying to get used to the cold. When he didn't hear his brother or friend say anything more to him he took a breath and went under, looking in the water and into the darkness below.

He surfaced for a larger gulp of air before he dove down, this time going straight down into the water by the boat, looking for lights in the darkness that would indicate that Tauriel was there.

"Nothing," Kili said when he resurfaced, snorting and shaking his head.

"Do you guys have like, chum or something to attract her?" Bran asked, looking for a bucket of bait.

"I think that'd just attract sharks. Also fun to swim with, but not great at conversation." Fili thought out loud to himself, pretending he didn't see Bran's shocked expression.

"You've swum with sharks?!" Bran shouted incredulously.

Kili didn't listen to the conversation further, going back underwater and swimming a bit. While bait would be a good idea, he didn't want to attract the wrong sort of marine life. Maybe Tauriel could be attracted with fish guts and blood like a shark, but he didn't know if she would avoid sharks or not. The idea of Tauriel facing off against a great white was both worrying to him and awesome.

But he really wanted to see her today, he wanted Bran to meet her. He also wanted Tauriel to not kill Bran, but he wasn't sure if she would try that or not. She could have killed him already, so he hoped that meant that she wouldn't kill him if given another chance at it.

"Tauriel!" He wasn't sure why he thought screaming in the water would do anything except create a lot of air bubbles, but it was worth a shot.

"We should try moving the boat, I didn't see her down there," Kili called from the water, swimming back toward the boat.

"I've always thought it would be cool to touch a manta ray. I love those things!" Bran had been saying, and Kili wondered what conversation he had missed out on as he clambered back into the boat and Fili set the boat off in a random direction.

"What did I miss?" Kili asked as he wrapped himself in towels, looking at Bran for an explanation.

"Talking about going to an interactive aquarium or a reef to touch fish." Bran explained.

"That'd be cool. We could do that. I mean, we all just got another 20 grand in our bank accounts from our last haul." Kili pointed out, wondering about plane and hotel costs for traveling. Or should they take a boat or cruise? Or road trip?

"We're going to spend 20 grand going to an aquarium? We better be able to take home a dolphin after that." Bran joked, and the idea of walking out of an aquarium with a live dolphin made Kili and Fili laugh.

"I'd be impressed if you managed to spend that much in an aquarium. I meant like, a trip down somewhere, like doesn't San Diego have a good aquarium?" Kili looked at Fili for confirmation, as if Fili had an expert knowledge on where the best aquariums were.

"Vegas," was Fili's response.

"I don't think Vegas has a good aquarium." Kili stared at his brother in confusion.

"No I mean we should go to Vegas! We've never actually done that even though we've talked about doing that for years." Fili explained, thinking it would be good to get the gang of friends away from mermaids for a bit and just have some fun.

"I'd be down for Vegas." Bran nodded and Kili shrugged.

"Vegas it is." Kili agreed.

"Wanna check the water for her?" Fili asked, realizing none of them were watching the water as they chatted. Fili suppressed a chuckle when Kili rushed to the side of the boat a little faster than was necessary, not hiding his longing at all.

"How long does this normally take?" Bran said with a whine and a grin, laughing when Kili groaned and jumped into the water, leaving a pile of wet towels behind.

Fili shook his head and chuckled as he killed the engine so Kili wouldn't be left stranded. As the boat returned to drifting Fili looked back to where Kili and entered the water just in time to see Kili take a breath and go under.

"I have a feeling we're not going to find her," Bran admitted to Fili now that Kili couldn't hear them.

"Sometimes she doesn't want to come up. After everything that has happened, well, I don't know if I'd want to come back to the surface after what happened if I was in her position." Fili murmured, trying not to lose hope for Kili's sake.

"But she was following the crab boat. Right? How else would she have been right there to save my life?" Bran asked but all Fili could do was shrug. Only Tauriel had the answer for that.

Kili, meanwhile, could see light in the darkness below him. And he was pretty sure it wasn't just him being hopeful. He stuck his head out of the water for air, swimming after the ship he had jumped from before he went back under to look down. The lights were getting closer, and he hoped that meant Tauriel was coming up.

"I think she's here!" Kili called as he reached the side of the boat, grinning at Bran and Fili.

"Sweet! Where is she?" Bran looked over in excitement, forgetting his fears as he looked into the water.

"Is she far down?" Fili asked as he also looked over the edge but saw nothing.

"Yeah, I could just see the light on her." Kili nodded before taking a breath and going back down.

Sure enough the light was getting closer, and Kili swam down as best as he could toward the figure he recognized.

Tauriel floated below him, out of reach, looking at him in indecision. He beckoned to her with his hands, smiling at her, before he had to return to the surface of oxygen. She followed him up and stopped again when he came back down to her. He could reach her now, and the others could see her form in the water she was so close, and he extended his hand to her. She climbed up to his level, looking from him to the surface and back, still not sure. Kili, meanwhile, was distracted by her necklace. It had to be new, he would remember something like that on her neck. But his lungs reminded him he need to breath, and Tauriel followed him to the surface.

"Tauriel! Hi!" Fili said and waved to her when her face broke the surface.

Bran, meanwhile, remembered that he was terrified of her and didn't know what to do. Tauriel wore an equally blank expression was she recognized Bran in the boat.

"Tauriel… this is Bran." Kili introduced his human friend to his mermaid friend. She stared at him for a moment and then looked back at Bran.

"Uh… hi, uh, Tauriel? Hi…" Bran stammered with all the elegance of a village idiot.

"I'm… uh, I'm, um," Bran continued to fumble over his words, Kili and Fili not helping him through this at all.

"I'm so sorry. Oh God I'm so sorry I hurt you like holy shit you should have drowned me when you have the chance why didn't you I'm a terrible human being like what kind of piece of shit just goes out and abducts someone like damn first I invade your home and then I go kidnap you like what the fuck is even wrong with me that is such a shitty thing to do and," Bran's stuttering turned into a deluge of rambling and apologizing, but Kili and Fili were most surprised by the fact that Bran was tearing up and fighting back tears. Tauriel also noticed the liquid seeping from Bran's eyes, and she moved closer to reach up and touch his face and the tears. Bran went silent when she did that, probably fearing her snapping his neck, but instead she just stared at the tears on her hand before she spun into the water and disappeared.

"Well. That went well." Bran muttered and slumped back into a seat on the boat.

"It probably did, actually," Kili chuckled as he climbed back onboard, once more wrapping himself in towels to dry off and warm up.

"Because she didn't kill me? She left!" Bran protested, not knowing what to make of things.

"She does that. She might come back; all we can do is wait." Fili said as he pulled out a deck of cards, making Bran groan.

"Great. More waiting."

"But don't you feel better having that off your chest?" Fili said in a sweet tone, although he was serious.

"I just… I don't know. I don't even know if she understood me." Bran mumbled and crossed his arms.

"She probably did, she's listened to Fili and I enough to learn some words, and she probably understands more than she can speak." Kili shrugged, not worried about it and waiting for Fili to deal out cards.

"So what, just wait for another four hours to see if she comes back?" Bran groaned, feeling mentally exhausted and embarrassed at rambling like an idiot in front of his friends like that. He had a proper apology speech all ready to go and he'd forgotten all of it, how humiliating.

"Nah, she's back already," Kili laughed, looking in the direction of a splash he heard. He stood and reached below the side of the boat to help Tauriel climb onboard.

"She's got a fish!" Fili said in a delighted tone, making Bran stare at the two beaming brothers.

"She was hungry?" Bran asked before he realized that Tauriel was now fully in the boat and was moving toward him with a fish in her mouth. Instinctively he drew away, not sure what to do.

"You gotta take the fish." Fili laughed, getting Bran's attention.

"What?" Bran stared at Fili before looking back at Tauriel.

Sure enough, she offered him the fish with an expectant look. He looked at Kili and Fili for guidance, but they were snickering into their hands while waving and nodding for him to take it.

Bran took the fish into his hands and she looked down at the fish and back up at him, waiting. After a moment of Bran staring at her helplessly, she raised her hands to her mouth and mimed taking a bite.

"Is she feeding me?" Bran whispered, keeping his eyes on her.

"It's her way of saying that you two are friends. Now take a bite! You've had worse." Kili explained, clearly enjoying this way too much. Bran swallowed and braced himself, biting into the fish and poorly concealing a scream when the fish wriggled. He wanted to chew it since it was food and that was the natural thing to do, but he wanted it out of his mouth as quickly as possible, which lead to an awkward half chew half swallow that made him cough. But Tauriel seemed content and looked over at Kili and Fili, moving so that she was between the two brothers.

"So, she's forgiven you! Doesn't if feel good?" Fili teased, looking at Bran's sick expression.

"Tastes terrible." Bran coughed, looking at the fish in his hands. Was he supposed to keep eating? Or could he throw it overboard? Would that cause offense?

While Bran contemplated what was the proper etiquette for mermaid friendship offerings, Kili was looking at Tauriel's necklace. He pointed to it to get her attention, and she looked up at him while touching the necklace.

All the necklaces and trinkets he had seen from Tauriel thus far had been much more crude, made of some sort of string or wire and usually had bones or shells. But what was around her neck now was an elaborate diamond necklace. It didn't even show signs of being in seawater, so it couldn't have been something she found on a wreck, unless the wreck had just happened. Kili decided against touching it, he felt uncomfortable at the mere idea of touching something that looked so expensive. The diamonds, or crystals, he had no idea, were the largest he had ever seen, ranging from tiny specks to the size of his palm. He wasn't sure if it was just the diamonds watching the light, or if there was something special about them, but they seemed to shine much like the spots of light on her skin. Kili realized Fili was also staring at Tauriel's necklace. It was hard not to, it covered her neck and draped all the way to between her breasts.

"Guys… what do I do with the fish?" Bran finally whispered and looked up from the fish in his hands before the necklace got his attention, and then, "she's got boobs?"

That broke the brothers' attention and made them laugh.

After eating the fish, Tauriel seemed completely relaxed around Bran, and in soon she had learned his name. They found themselves talking, Bran utterly fascinated and asking questions, and trying to teach Tauriel new words so they could communicate better, until the sun was touching the horizon. Bran quickly understood why Kili and Fili were so protective of her and considered her a friend, she was interesting and Bran wanted to understand her as well. And he was making plenty of suggestive eyebrow waggles at Kili, teasing him for is obvious feelings for Tauriel until she returned to the ocean for the night.

The teasing and tormenting started in full once Tauriel was gone, both Fili and Bran relentlessly going at Kili and laughing at how red his face got.

"I tease because I love you," Fili said, rubbing his head on Kili's as they cleaned up the boat once they had docked. Bran had jumped off once they had reached the pier, going to meet with Collin and tell him about the Vegas plans with a promise of calling tonight to figure things out. The brothers had reassured Bran that they would clean up, there wasn't more than a few minutes worth of clean up to do anyway.

"I love you too. Jackass." Kili wrapped his arm around Fili and gave him a squeeze in a hug, and then jabbed his brother's side.

"Your taste in women could use some work though." Fili laughed and broke away, closing and latching the last storage door on the boat.

"Isn't this Bran's key chain?" Kili was able to ignore the comment by offering up a key ring he found hidden between seat cushions.

"It's not mine and it isn't yours, so much be." Fili reasoned, earning him a look from his brother who did not appreciate the smart-alecky tone.

"Well he's going to meet up with Collin. Let's go find them and return them, and then we can plan Vegas!" Kili grabbed his things and hopped off the boat, Fili following.

They didn't find Bran in the parking lot, and neither his nor Collin's car were parked at their usual town haunts, so after driving around for a bit they headed to Collin's. Collin's car was there but Bran's wasn't, but if they were all going to meet up anyway the brother's reasoned may as well get Collin now.

"We're going to Vegas! Are you-" Kili bust open the door when the brothers found out it wasn't locked, but Kili stopped dead in his tracks. Fili slammed into him, knocking Kili forward into Collin's place, and likewise stood in the door in stunned silence.

"It's! It's not what it looks like!" Bran shouted. It looked like he was straddling Collin on the couch, both of their shirts discarded on the floor along with Bran's belt.

"You two are together?" Fili asked, although more for confirmation than anything else. Collin's hands were down Bran's pants, they were probably together.

"You punched me because you were worried about doing gay stuff!" Was Kili's reaction, insulted that Bran had punched him over that.

"I'm not gay!" Bran shouted, jerking away from Collin and flopping onto the floor.

"I'm gay." Collin said much more matter of fact, although he was bright red from being caught.

"Bran, we literally walked in on you two making out." Fili sighed at Bran's indignation, and stepped inside to close the door.

"I like girls! Girls are hot and sexy!" Bran stammered, trying to defend himself.

"So, you're bi?" Kili asked. Bran thought for a moment, as though the idea had never occurred to him before.

"Yes…?" Bran managed, unsure.

"So… you guys are, like, cool with-?" Collin rubbed the back of his neck and didn't make eye contact, but didn't have a chance to finish.

"Yeah, why wouldn't we? You're still our Collin." Kili reassured his friend, happy that both Collin and Bran visibly relaxed at the acceptance.

"Dude, Kili's in love with a mermaid. At this point I'm just glad you are into other human beings." Fili said, unable to resist making a jab at his brother and making Collin blink in confusion and stare at Kili.

"Mermaid?" Collin whispered, noticing Kili going bright red and Bran's poorly concealed snickers.

"So! Vegas! You, Bran, Me, Fili, you in?" Kili desperately fought to change the subject, knowing he was going to have to tell Collin, and endure another friend's worth of teasing, soon.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Or

Tauriel Has A REALLY Bad Day

It was a sad realization for Tauriel that the closest thing she had to friends now were humans. But she was lonely, her only solace was the necklace from Lady Galadriel, and her brief visits with Kili and his human friends.

She feared the humans, and their world. The time she had spent out of water had been unpleasant at best, and had condemned to her to a life apart from her kind, from her family and friends. But now it seemed the humans were all she had left. She had been exiled because of them, now she had no choice but to be close to them.

And so she spent her days hunting and exploring the surface of the water, hoping she would run into Kili. Most of the time it was humans hunting for fish. She would scare schools of fish toward the surface and the boats and pick off the panicking remains as the humans above left with a full boat. But some days she couldn't manage to do that, instead floating listlessly near the bottom of the ocean. It felt uncomfortable, even hovering above the sand she could still feel the sunlight as the sand was not deep enough in the water to be out of reach from the sun. The lack of darkness made her feel exposed and vulnerable, it wasn't the true darkness of the abyss she called home.

Home.

She didn't have one of those anymore, and she found herself inscribing the word on every rock she bothered to pick up for something to do to pass the time. Maybe if she wrote the word enough times she would be able to find a new home, but what could she do? Where could she go? She could travel, explore the lengths of the ocean and leave the humans behind.

But that would mean leaving Kili, and she wasn't sure she could part with the few friends she had left. She had three of those now: Kili, Fili, and Bran. But she had no way of contacting them, she couldn't find them unless they came out to her. It made her feel cut off and isolated, and she often found herself desperately trying to hide in some rock wall or cliff near the shore just to feel safe and secure again.

But her hunger would force her back out of her hiding and attempts at security, and she would wander the open ocean. And when she was bored and dejected by her wandering she would simply float, letting the currents take her.

On one such miserable day she drifted aimlessly, looking up at the world above for any passing ship that might be of some interest. To her great relief she saw a human vessel dragging a massive section of colored seaweed. Kili!

She rushed to the surface, clicking in joy that her solitude was broken. Who had Kili brought this time? Did he bring more gifts? Maybe he had another human friend for her to meet?

She broke the surface and looked up the side of the boat, it was one of the larger boats she had seen Kili on, the one that dropped large cages to catch crab. Kili had never used the colored seaweed on a ship like this to get her attention, but she wasn't going to complain about a change in vessel so long as it meant Kili was here.

There were voices from the deck above her, and she could see the heads of humans looking over at her. How was she going to get up there? Or was Kili going to come swim with her today? The humans above threw something overboard, what strange things they do, and she moved toward it to see what it was.

A flash blinded her, making her scream and dart backward. What kind of thing was that? Why had Kili thrown-

It flashed again, stopping her thoughts and body as her eyes burned and she hissed in pain. This wasn't Kili, Kili knew light hurt-

Then came a sound so loud that she thought she would burst. Blinded, disoriented, she darted in a random direction. Why did the water taste funny? What were the humans doing? Her gills hurt, she couldn't see, the screeching continued until she was sure her head was going to split open from pain. She felt something on her skin, barely able to register that a net was now closing in on her. She wasn't sure if she was moving anywhere or if she was just twitching, she just wanted the pain to stop. Couldn't the humans see that they were hurting her? Couldn't they hear her screaming?

But the humans did see, and they did hear, and they didn't care. Tauriel realized this with a sinking feeling when she realized she was no longer in water, instead because pulled up through the air and onto the deck.

"Hurt…" she croaked, trying to make them understand. At least out of water the flashing and the screeching had stopped, but now she was surrounded by humans and still unable to see or hear properly.

"Amazing! It can speak!" She made out the words but not the meaning, but she was relieved to feel ocean water splashing on it. It helped clear the pain and sting from the strange water she had been in before.

"Humans hurt Tauriel…" she tried again, one of the humans squatting down and looking at her closely.

"Yes… humans are hurting you, aren't they?" the human crooned in a deep voice that Tauriel didn't like. This human was larger than Kili, much wider, and with less hair on the face. What did it want with her?

She shook her head and pushed herself up, twitching her tail and trying to get out from under the net.

"Let's get her wrapped up!" the large human shouted, the other humans jumping to action at the words she did not fully understand. What she did understand was the sudden weight holding down her tail as several humans dropped down and grabbed her, trying to pin her down.

She screeched at them, thrashing and turning on them to claw at them. They didn't stay on her long, underestimating her strength and flexibility, and they quickly retreated out of her reach as she thrashed out of the net. She panted and glared, teeth bared, not understanding why they were now standing back. Were they letting her go? If they were wise they would not try to touch her again.

For a tense moment nothing happened, the humans made no move to get closure to her, so she carefully pulled the net off herself. If they wanted to keep her captured, wouldn't they keep her in the net? Or did they have other tricks?

She pulled herself away from the net, looking at the humans on the deck surrounding her and at the railing she would need to get over. The large human wasn't even present anymore.

Deciding it wasn't worth waiting around to figure out what was going on, she darted for the railing and escape. But the humans didn't get out of her way, they had the audacity to stand their ground and even charge her. She reared up on her tail, matching their height, ready to kill to get out. She lunged at the one directly in front of her, surprised when something pierced her back that sent shocks of pain through her that dropped her back to the deck, twitching uncontrollably. What was this? Why were they doing this? Couldn't they hear her screaming in pain?

But the humans didn't care, binding her when she could not move and restraining her so she could move no further. Her arms were fixed to her sides, her tail was pinned down to a board, and her mouth stuffed so that they could more easily ignore she cries and protests when she understood them say:

"Let's go home!"


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Or

What Do You Mean We "Accidentally" Got Married?

Las Vegas turned out to be a great place to go, and a terrible place to go, when you've got thousands of dollars to burn. Thankfully Kili had some sense to not throw all of his money into gambling, but it was the food, and especially the alcohol, tab that was the most embarrassing to look at.

And he loved it.

He was also thankful that when he got drunk he took a lot of pictures and videos, and every morning of their five days in Las Vegas started with them all crowding around, groaning over their hang overs, and looking through Kili's phone to better remember what had happened the night before.

The first night was to be expected, after a long day of traveling they had gotten to Las Vegas, gambled a bit at their hotel, and seen a really awesome show. Or it looked awesome, none of them actually remembered it, and Kili was almost positive they had all passed out from exhaustion half way through the show because that's where his videos and photos ended. It would also explain how all four of them were still fully dressed, for the most part, when they woke up the next morning. Fili was the only one who had enough drunk sense to at least take off his shoes. Collin had managed to take off a belt, a shoe, and a sock. Kili has gotten his jacket off. Bran had managed to put on the complementary bathrobes and a hat.

No one knew where the hat came from.

The second night was another show that they all remembered this time, but they didn't remember when Fili won a jackpot, there was video evidence, and then somehow lost it, Fili's account was down by 2,000 the next morning. They had also at some point gone to a gay bar, or maybe it was a strip club for women, all Kili knew was that there were a lot of naked guys on poles on his phone the next morning and two messages from contacts he didn't recognize. Fili has one, Bran had two and a dick pic, and Collin managed to get six numbers and four pictures of people he didn't recognize. Bran's obvious jealous was adorable, and Kili and Fili made plenty of dirty jokes and innuendoes for the two love birds. There was also a noticeable hickey on Bran's back, but when it was pointed out Collin's pleased expression cast away any questions about where it might have come from.

The third day was the especially fun day. Bran and Collin had gotten so drunkenly affectionate that by mid afternoon they had gotten each other engagement rings. Kili and Fili weren't even tipsy at that point, and were highly entertained by Bran and Collin trying to one up each other with the engagement rings. It lasted so long that they both sobered up and stopped, but Kili passed a note to the clerk to hold the two rings in their sizes, just in case.

Kili had decided to go easy on the drinking that night, but continued with the pictures and videos for the sake of the others, and was glad he was mostly sober when Bran and Collin had decided to get married, which led to a hilarious and slightly painful conversation the next morning.

"Ooooh god, what happened next?" Bran laughed until he was in pain, Kili flipping to the next item in his phone to show them the discussion to get married. Bran and Collin went quiet, and Kili wondered if he should have deleted this part of the night. Did they really not remember?

"HAHA! Oh God!" Collin laughed, blushing in embarrassment and nudged Bran. "I can't believe we accidentally got married!"

Bran, however, wasn't laughing, and the look of hurt made everyone go quiet.

"What do you mean we 'accidently' got married? I was being serious when I proposed. Was… was it really a joke to you?" Bran admitted, humiliated and hurt and blinking back tears.

"Oh… oh god…" Collin stammered before he swallowed and fought back tears himself, "I thought you were joking!"

"Ha! Of course I was joking! Come on, a Vegas wedding? Seriously?!" Bran laughed far too forcefully, and Kili and Fili winced and wanted to get out of the room.

"I was being serious. I remember saying yes and marrying you, and I meant it." Collin admitted, Bran's fake laugh and smirk breaking in shock.

"Seriously?" Bran's smile was timid, but encouraged by Collin's nod.

"Seriously." Collin confirmed. Fili groaned and slapped his forehead.

"JUST KI- oh okay wow, you guys did not need any encouragement." Fili laughed as his order was fulfilled before he could finish making it, Collin and Bran going at it. Kili tapped Fili on the shoulder and motioned toward the door, glad he had saved those rings now.

Bran and Collin were quite pleased to have their engagement rings, short lived though it was, and Fili and Kili were glad to be out of their hotel room given the state of Bran, Collin, the couch, and the bed was in when they got back.

The fourth night was a proper celebration for the newlyweds now that they both realized they had been serious about marrying each other.

The fifth day involved getting Bran and Collin proper wedding bands, and enjoying their last night in Vegas before heading home with almost empty pockets.

At least, it was supposed to be enjoyable, until the news story broke out.

Kili saw the news first when he went to go grab some food from the bar for everyone, seeing the breaking news story for the evening. He couldn't hear what the tv was saying, the sound probably wasn't even turned on, but he could read the text along the bottom.

"ALASKAN MERMAID HOAX PROVED REAL - FOUND ALIVE AND CAUGHT - TAKEN TO PRIVATE AQUARIUM FOR STUDY – PUBLIC REVEAL TO BE ANNOUNCED"

The picture was of a man Kili didn't know, no doubt assuming responsibility, and a clip of Tauriel thrashing while being loaded onto a truck.

"Kili?" Fili shouted at his brother when Kili dropped off the food at their table, too drunk to control his volume but still sharp enough to tell something was wrong.

"Kili?! Where are you going?" Bran shouted when Kili turned and left without a word.

"What was that about?" Collin whisper shouted to the other two at the table, but neither had an answer.

"Maybe some bad alcohol or food?" Fili suggested with a shrug, wondering if he should follow his brother or not.

"FREE DRINKS ON ME! I JUST WON ME A BET THAT MERMAIDS ARE FUCKING REAL!" The screaming over the bar's intercom got their attention, making them quickly look at the tv and their phones to check the news.

"Shit." Fili was up and out of the bar before those free drinks could be had, Collin and Bran behind him, as he rushed back to the hotel room.

To his relief Kili was there and had not wandered off somewhere in distress.

"It's my fault." Kili mumbled, sitting in the dark as he hadn't bothered to turn on the lights when he got to the hotel suite.

"She's captured and locked in some tank somewhere and oh God it's all my fault," Kili choked, unable to stop guilt ridden sobs from wracking his body, not caring that his brother and best friends were now there and could see him.

"We'll figure something out," Fili didn't have anything else he could say. Kili might just be right, but they were all to blame. They had made her unafraid of humans, Bran and Collin and been responsible for putting a tracker on her, and now she was paying the price. Fili didn't know a way to convince Kili that it wasn't his fault, or their fault.

"I should have been there, I could have- I should have- maybe I could have stopped it and-" Kili broke down, unable to form words. Fili didn't have any words either, and sat with his brother instead. Kili accepted the comfort, turning into Fili as he sobbed, glad that Fili's arms were around him.

Bran turned on the light, motioning to the suitcases, and Collin started grabbing stuff.

"We'll pack up and see if we can get an earlier flight," Collin whispered to Fili, who nodded and mouthed 'thank you.' They knew Kili wanted to get back to Alaska immediately, he would want to go try to fix this and not let anything stop him, but for now they knew he needed to do this. They couldn't stop his guilt, and they all felt guilt, but what they could do was help Kili and let him lament and cry.

Bran stopped packing and left the room when he saw Fili tearing up, and Collin followed Bran to see what was wrong.

"We did this," Bran whispered to Collin, pacing and gripping his hair to try to keep calm.

"We're going to fix it."

"This is all our fault…" Bran muttered and Collin grabbed Bran to stop him from pacing.

"We are going to fix this." Collin said again, firmer, but before he could try to get Bran to focus on the task of packing to help move things along Bran was hugging him, swallowing hard, and holding back tears of his own.

In the other room Kili gripped his brother, swearing to himself that he was going to do whatever it took to get Tauriel back to the sea where she belonged. He owed her that much.


End file.
